Despite considerable gains for Partido Popular: no majority of right-wing parties
Written by Costa Blanca Radio on 24 July 2023
The Partido Popular won the Spanish parliamentary election. The party won 136 seats. That is less than the forecast of 145 to 150 seats, but a gain of 47 seats. Alberto Nuñes Feijóo’s party now has 89 seats in parliament. When 99.3 percent of the votes had been counted, it became clear that the centre-right Partido Popular and the right-wing Vox together just missed out on a majority in the Spanish elections. They need them to form a government.
The PSOE of the incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Sánchez comes to 122 seats, a gain of two. At 70.4 percent, the turnout was higher than in 2019, when about 65 percent of voters turned out.
The radical right-wing party Vox, with which the PP would like to form a coalition, loses 19 seats to 33. With this result, the two right-wing parties together do not have enough seats to form a coalition. 176 seats are needed for this, they come to 169.
Socialist Prime Minister Sánchez celebrated the result as a victory. Sánchez and his party gained two seats and thus claimed victory for the left. Because his PSOE has more possible allies in parliament than the PP and Vox, Prime Minister Sánchez could run for a third term.
In that case, he may have to ask for the support of the Catalan Junts. That is the separatist party of fugitive independence leader Carles Puigdemont. If he does not, new elections are not ruled out.
