海角大神

Spain may be facing political gridlock and possibly a new election, but a national ballot produced one result that will be welcomed across the capitals of Europe: a far-right party aiming to get its hands on the levers of power was thwarted.

Spain鈥檚 Vox party, with its ultranationalist bent, lost support among voters in Sunday鈥檚 election, dashing its hopes to be a kingmaker and enter a governing coalition that would have given the far right its first share of power in Spain since Francisco Franco鈥檚 20th-century dictatorship.

The mainstream conservative Popular Party won the election but performed well below polling data that had forecast it could oust Socialist Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez if it formed a government with Vox as a junior partner.

Even though Mr. S谩nchez鈥檚 Socialists finished second, they and their allied parties celebrated the outcome as a victory since their combined forces gained slightly more seats than the Popular Party and Vox. The bloc that would likely support Mr. S谩nchez totaled 172 seats, while parties on the right had 170.

鈥淭his is a major victory for the left,鈥� Dr. Jason Xidias, a lecturer in Political Science at New York University鈥檚 Madrid campus, said Monday.

Political horse-trading in coming weeks, when smaller regional parties could offer their support for a government in return for concessions, will be 鈥渧ery complicated,鈥� Dr. Xidias said.

The closer-than-expected outcome placed a question mark over Spain鈥檚 future leadership. But the Popular Party insisted it could not be denied its shot at forming a government.

鈥淣obody would understand it now if [other parties] all came together to prevent the party that won the elections from becoming the government,鈥� the PP鈥檚 deputy secretary Miguel Tellado told public broadcaster RTVE on Monday.

Mr. S谩nchez put together Spain鈥檚 first-ever coalition government, which took power in Jan. 2020. Mr. S谩nchez has been Spain鈥檚 prime minister since 2018.

Socialist voter Delphine Fern谩ndez said she hopes Mr. S谩nchez can stay in power. She is crossing her fingers that she and the 37 million Spaniards called to vote don鈥檛 have to do it all over again like in 2019, when Mr. S谩nchez had to score back-to-back election victories before he was able to forge a coalition government.

鈥淚t was always going to be difficult. Now we are [practically] tied, but let鈥檚 see if we can still govern,鈥� said Mr. Fern谩ndez, a lawyer. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to vote again in a few weeks. It鈥檚 now or never.鈥�

But the chances of Mr. S谩nchez picking up the support of the 176 lawmakers needed to have an absolute majority in the Madrid-based Lower House of Parliament are not great.

The divided results have made the Catalan separatist party Junts (Together) key to Mr. S谩nchez forming a government. But if Junts asked for a referendum on independence for northeast Catalonia, that would likely be far too costly a price for Mr. S谩nchez to pay.

鈥淲e won鈥檛 make Pedro S谩nchez PM in exchange for nothing,鈥� M铆riam Nogueras of Junts said.

With all votes counted, the Popular Party collected 136 seats of the 350 up for grabs. Even with the 33 seats that the far-right Vox got and the one seat going to an allied party, the PP was still seven seats short of a majority.

The Socialists gathered 122 seats, two more than they previously held. Mr. S谩nchez could likely call on the 31 seats of its junior coalition partner Sumar (Joining Forces) and several smaller parties to at least total more than the sum of the right-wing parties, but also would fall four short of a majority unless Junts joined them.

鈥淪pain and all the citizens who have voted have made themselves clear. The backward-looking bloc that wanted to undo all that we have done has failed,鈥� Mr. S谩nchez told a jubilant crowd gathered at Socialists鈥� headquarters in Madrid.

After his party took a beating in regional and local elections in May, Mr. S谩nchez could have waited until December to face a national vote. Instead, he stunned his rivals by moving up the vote in hopes of gaining a bigger boost from his supporters.

Mr. S谩nchez can add this election night to yet another comeback in his career that has been built around beating the odds. The 51-year-old had to mount a mutiny among rank-and-file Socialists to return to heading his party before he won Spain鈥檚 only no-confidence vote to oust his Popular Party predecessor in 2018.

PP leader Alberto N煤帽ez Feij贸o seemed even more unlikely to put together a majority.

Mr. Feij贸o focused the PP鈥檚 campaign on what he called the lack of trustworthiness of Mr. S谩nchez. The Socialists and other leftist parties, meanwhile, drummed on the fear of having Vox in power as a junior partner in a PP-led coalition.

A PP-Vox government would have meant another EU member moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland, and Italy. Countries such as Germany and France are concerned about what such a shift would portend for EU immigration and climate policies.

Vox, however, lost 19 seats from four years earlier. The election took place during Spain鈥檚 six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, and a strong Vox showing would have sent shockwaves through EU politics.

Mr. Feij贸o sought to distance the PP from Vox during the campaign. But Mr. S谩nchez, in moving up the election, made the campaign coincide with the PP and Vox striking deals to govern together in town halls and regional governments following the May ballots.

Vox campaigned on rolling back gender violence laws. And both the PP and Vox agreed on wanting to repeal a new transgender rights law and a democratic memory law that seeks to help families wanting to unearth the thousands of victims of Francisco Franco鈥檚 regime still missing in mass graves.

鈥淧P has been a victim of its expectations, and the Socialists have been able to capitalize on the fear of the arrival of Vox. Bringing forward the elections has turned out to be the right decision for Pedro S谩nchez,鈥� said Manuel Mostaza, director of Public Policy at the Spanish consulting firm Atrevia.

Spain鈥檚 new Parliament will meet in a month. King Felipe VI then appoints one of the party leaders to submit him or herself to a parliamentary vote to form a new government. Lawmakers have a maximum period of three months to reach an agreement. Otherwise, new elections would be triggered.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.