Spanish Voters Set for New Election After Talks Fail

• 04.27.2016, 19:12
•  Europe,  World

El Pais

A new national election in Spain is now inevitable, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday after he told King Felipe he could not form a coalition government and resolve a four-month political stalemate.

The parties have been unable to form a new government since an inconclusive December election and a final round of one-to-one meetings between the king and party leaders, Reuters reports.

With acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy having already said he was also lacking the necessary parliamentary backing, the lower house is now expected to be dissolved on May 3 and the new general election is expected to be held on June 26.

It should be recalled that in the last election the center-right People’s Party of caretaker Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won 123 seats in the 350-seat parliament, while the Socialists won 90 seats, the far-left Podemos won 69 and the center-right Ciudadanos won 40.

Thus, because of the voters' anger over high unemployment and corruption scandals, upstart or minor parties won nearly 40% of the seats in December, leaving the two establishment parties, the conservative Popular Party and the Socialists, too weak to form a government.

The current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that he had told King Felipe he did not have enough parliamentary support to attempt to become the new Prime Minister of Spain.

According to Spain Report, he denied the past four months had been a failure, that "Podemos in government would have been worse", and said it was up to Spaniards to choose the best candidate at a new general election: "I am a realist, dash optimist".

Rajoy also said the Popular Party had made "the best proposal for Spain" after the general election on December 20, 2015: "a grand coalition government capable of generating stability and confidence" with the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Ciudadanos.

However, most opinion polls suggest that the outcome in June would do little to resolve the deadlock created by December's election with the Popular Party leading the pack. Nevertheless, political analysts say that electoral history suggests absenteeism would increase in a second vote, as a steady stream of corruption scandals continues to foul the national mood.