The Spanish conservative Popular Party is projected to win the national election, but without the majority needed to overthrow Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his coalition government. With 90% of the votes counted, the Popular Party is on track to secure 136 out of 350 seats in the lower house of the Spanish parliament, known as the Congress of Deputies. Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers Party is set to take 122 seats, slightly more than in the previous legislature. The outcome of the election is characterized by a close race and the possibility of a hung parliament.
Observers predict weeks of political negotiations as both sides seek to secure enough support to form a majority government. The next prime minister will only be chosen once lawmakers are installed in the new Congress of Deputies. To form a government, a minimum of 176 seats is required.
Pre-election polls had suggested a larger victory for the Popular Party, with the possibility of forming a coalition with the far-right Vox party. However, this outcome is now in doubt. A coalition between the Popular Party and Vox would have marked a return of the far-right to Spanish governance for the first time since the country’s transition to democracy in the late 1970s.
Sanchez, who has been in power since 2018, has been seeking a third consecutive national election win. The recent regional and local elections in May saw his party, along with its coalition partner, lose ground to the conservative and far-right parties, prompting the call for an early election.
If the Popular Party assumes power, it could have implications for the European Union. Spain currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, and a defeat for Sanchez could mean a change in leadership during the country’s six-month term.
The outcome of this election will have significant consequences for Spain and Europe as a whole. As the votes continue to be counted and negotiations unfold, the country waits to see who will ultimately form the government and what direction it will take.
