Political natural disaster in Spain as exit poll shows Podemos surging to 22pc

MADRID – Spains governing center-right Popular Party, or PP, won Sundays general elections but came up well short of having an absolute majority in Parliament, while the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, or PSOE, finished second and the new Podemos party ended up third, with 99.43 percent of the ballots counted.

Podemos party supporters react as party leader Pablo Iglesias and other members address the crowd. Breaking the two-party norm that has presided over the country for decades, Podemos, a recently formed left-wing party, won 20.6 percent of the vote and 90 seats in the legislature.

He will try to form a government, though his party lacks a clear coalition partner.

The inconclusive vote heralded a new era of pact-making, shattering a two-party system that has dominated Spain since the 1970s, with an unexpected surge from upstart anti-austerity party Podemos – the latest of several strong showings by populist parties in European elections – giving it a potential role as kingmaker.

/Reports suggest that Spaniards could be guessing for days, or even weeks, about the shape and colour of their next Government.

Spain’s major political parties are now embarking on potentially long and arduous talks to form a coalition government, after the most fragmented national election result in the country’s history on Sunday.

Ciudadanos has said it will abstain in the vote, and while the PSOE has rejected Rajoy, it could agree not to vote against a conservative government that excludes the incumbent premier, said Fernando Vallespin, politics professor at Madrid’s Autonomous University.

Should nobody be elected, parliament would be dissolved with a new election called within two months of the first vote. Unionist parties won 30 seats in the rich, northeastern region, 18 more than the divided pro-independence camp.

The problem is that no politically possible combination of parties can form a majority government. The liberal Ciudadanos party was in fourth place with 40 seats. The Socialists, Podemos and another anti-austerity platform, Unidad Popular, fell 15 seats short, though they might yet attract extra support from nationalist groups.

“I would like things to change and for no party to get a majority so none of them will be able to do whatever it wants without listening to others”, said Agustin Aduriz, a 30-year-old engineer who voted in the Tribunal neighbourhood in Madrid. The Socialists also could ally with Podemos and smaller regional parties that won only a few seats – omitting Ciudadanos. From here, a period of uncertainty marked by vigorous horse-trading along the way to government formation looks likely ahead. Although Spain’s economy is now one of the fastest-growing in the 28-nation European Union, its unemployment rate is the second-highest in the EU after Greece.

“Austerity has now been defeated politically in Spain, as well”.