Another round of regional elections in Spain on Sunday has resulted in the governing conservative Popular Party winning an absolute majority in Galicia.
The area is the home region of the party’s acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy.
The elections in the Basque country favoured the Basque Nationalist Party but it still failed to win an absolute majority. It will have to form a coalition to facilitate a return to office.
The Popular Party lost just one seat in the Basque country even though its dedicated position on a united Spain is not very popular.
The results have strengthened Rajoy’s hand in his attempt to gain enough support to govern the country.
The Socialists suffered considerably in both elections. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has been blamed by many for his refusal to help Rajoy form a minority government. The upshot is a continuing impasse in government.
The political paralysis is causing tension within the ranks of the Socialists and appears to have spilled over into the two regional elections. The party finished third in Galicia and fourth in the Basque country.
The new anti-austerity party Podemos, despite its own internal disagreements, scored higher than the Socialists. The new centrist Ciudadanos failed to gain any seats at all in either region.
Their humiliation at the polls is expected to increase the pressure on Sánchez to form a national government along with the Popular Party. He had been trying to negotiate a left-wing coalition with arch-rival Podemos, but the poor results may dash this.
The Socialists’ leaders will meet on Saturday to decide their next steps in the stalemate.
Spain has never had a coalition government since its return to democracy after dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975 and therefore has had no experience in negotiating political alliances.
Now there is just one month for political leaders to form a government. Another failure will oblige King Felipe to dissolve parliament on 31 October and call for an unprecedented third election, which is scheduled to fall on 25 December.
A third election may push voters back into the arms of the conservatives or the socialists, both mired in corruption scandals, and away from the new parties.