Major headlines in the international press have given ample front page coverage to the general elections held in Spain on Sunday. Most emphasize the lack of net winners, the downfall of the far right and Pedro Sánchez’s character as a “political survivor”.
Financial Times. The Spanish election result was the UK newspaper’s opening story this Monday morning, reaching a global audience. The main part analyzes how Pedro Sánchez, despite the forecasts, managed to build up “strong resistance to the alliance between the PP and the extreme right”; highlights “the stony face” of Alberto Núñez Feijóo as he walks onto the balcony of the Genoa headquarters, recalling part of the Vox campaign “which denies climate change, opposes Muslim immigrants, questions violence against women and wants to repeal the laws defending the rights of the LGTBI collective”. In a second analytical article, entitled “The mistakes of the right helped Pedro Sánchez to halt Vox advances in Spain,” the Financial Times recalls that the agreements between PP and Vox in the weeks leading up to the general election provided real examples of what this coalition meant, “and many voters didn’t like what they saw.” They cite the ban on LGBTI flags and cultural censorship as examples.
The guard. The British newspaper made headlines with political uncertainty after the PP failed to achieve “the expected majority” and highlighted “fears” sparked in Spain by the fact that the far right could enter government for the first time “since the country regained democracy after Franco’s death”.
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The New York Times. The American newspaper headlines that Sunday’s ambiguous result is leading Spain into “a political mess”. It underscores, along with other international headlines, the “collapse” of the extreme right after a few weeks, when it looked like it would enter the Spanish government, which “appeared to be inoculated against extremes since the end of the Franco regime”. In addition, he calls Feijóo’s speech in Genoa “clearly defensive” and argues that not being able to lead the list with the most votes would be an “anomaly” and that it would damage Spain’s reputation abroad. “Sánchez, a political survivor of the first order,” the article adds, “has once again exceeded all expectations.” The newspaper reports that during his tenure, the prime minister managed “to keep inflation low, ease tensions with separatists in Catalonia, and boost economic growth, pensions and the minimum wage.”
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Le Monde. “Feijóo still wants to believe.” This is how the French newspaper’s chronicle of the Spanish elections begins. “But music and confetti don’t fool a lot of people. “On the balcony, Conservative leaders are forced to smile and their faces are serious,” their correspondent added. The newspaper also blames the PP’s previous pacts with Vox, censorship of films and plays, and the far-right party’s stance on crimes of sexist violence as factors that led to Vox’s overthrow and the PP’s insufficient victory.
Southgerman newspaper. The German newspaper headlines “The Spaniards are strengthening the center” and emphasizes that “the turn to the right was probably avoided”.
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