Spain’s Socialists lose seat, after expat vote count, making it harder to form government
- In Sunday’s close-fought election, neither the left nor right blocs won enough seats to form a majority
- Counting of votes from more than 233,000 Spaniards living abroad handed one seat in Madrid to the PP that had been awarded to the Socialists in the initial vote count
Esquerra is seen as likely to back Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez but if the fresh seat count is confirmed by the electoral commission it appears that Junts, the more hardline of the Catalan parties, would also have to actively support him for him to be able to form a government.
Sanchez called last week’s election early after left-wing parties were battered in local and regional elections in May, hoping to catch the opposition off guard. The left emerged stronger than opinion polls had predicted but Sanchez, now in a caretaker role, faces an uphill task forming a government.
Counting of votes from more than 233,000 Spaniards living abroad handed one seat in Madrid to the People’s Party (PP) that had been awarded to the Socialists in the initial vote count, the PP and Socialists said on Saturday. This was not yet officially confirmed by electoral authorities.
To form a government, an absolute majority is needed in a parliamentary vote in the 350-seat Congress. If neither bloc is able to secure that, there is a second vote in parliament and the side with the most votes wins by a simple majority.
According to the revised seat count, the PP could muster a total 171 votes, including 137 of its own, 33 from the hard-right Vox party and one from the Union of the Navarran People, a regional party. No other parties have said they will support an administration that includes Vox.
A spokeswoman for Canarian Coalition, a regional party with one lawmaker, told Reuters on Saturday it would not support a government containing Vox but had not decided if it would support Sanchez.