Spain’s Rajoy Has First Shot at Forming Government

The Spanish general electi…

“Spain is not going to be the same any more and we are very happy”, said a jubilant Pablo Iglesias, Podemos leader.

PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez congratulated Rajoy on his victory and said the current president has the first choice to build a coalition.

Spain’s governing conservative party lost its majority of parliamentary seats in the general election on Sunday, according to preliminary results.

Rajoy said the party that won the elections “should try to form the government”.

The PP held 186 seats in the outgoing parliament but on Sunday fell 53 seats short of the 176 needed for a majority. Rajoy’s party enforced severe austerity measures that were unpopular, but boosted the languishing economy.

“We are starting a new political era in our country”, he gushed as supporters looked on holding purple balloons to match the colours of the party at a rally following the announcement of the results.

Major opposition party, Socialists have won 22% of the vote, Ruling PP won 28.7% of the vote, left wing radical Podemos has gained big time to secure third place with 20.6% of vote and new comer Ciduadanos has won has won 13.9% of the vote.

SPAIN was plunged into the political unknown last night as no one party emerged as the victor in its closest general election since the end of the Franco dictatorship 40 years ago.

Sanchez told reporters he was willing to “dialogue, debate and reach agreements” in this new era in Spain, where no party will have an absolute majority in Parliament. “But if the alternative is leaving the country without a government, the pressure will be on the parties”.

Rivera appeared at the Eurobuilding Hotel just before midnight and spoke with the media, saying that his party would stake out the “new political center” in Spain.

Such a coalition would also need to win the backing of at least three other members of parliament, whether from other leftist forces such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya or EH Bildu, moderate Basque party PNV or regional group from the Canary Islands Coalicion Canaria.

A minority PP government would be technically possible but unlikely due to the strong left-wing vote, as would be a grand coalition between the PP and the Socialists, which both parties vehemently ruled out during campaigning. “But if the alternative is leaving the country without a government, the pressure will be on the parties”.

The voter turnout, with 86 per cent of votes counted, was marginally higher than in 2011, at 73 per cent.

The market-friendly newcomer Ciudadanos party said it expected to play a key role in forming a majority government. “The chances that we will have a stable government that can last four years are quite limited”, he added.

That points to a stalemate, probably disrupting an economic reform programme that has helped pull Spain – the fifth-largest economy in the European Union – out of recession and dented a still sky-high unemployment rate.

Rajoy’s administration has also been hurt by his U-turn on a promise not to raise taxes and by cuts to national health care and public education.

After corruption scandals and austerity, the political landscape here has been dramatically changed.

The question of independence for economically and politically powerful Catalonia has divided that region and soured political ties with the rest of Spain.

Rajoy, 60, champions conservative social policies, siding with the Roman Catholic Church against abortion.