Spain's conservatives fail to win as left celebrates election results

Spain's opposition conservative party claimed victory in a snap election, but without the result it needed for a majority

Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party (PSOE) candidate for re-election Pedro Sanchez and PSOE members celebrate (

Image: AFP via Getty Images

Spanish conservatives failed to win as the left celebrates the election results.

As the country is heading towards a political stalemate after Sunday's inconclusive national elections, parties on the right and left have no clear path to forming a new government.

The conservative People's Party won the election, but failed to secure a much bigger victory and force the removal of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Instead, the party led by candidate Alberto Nunez Feijoo performed below expectations in most campaign polls.

Even though Sanchez's Socialists finished second, they and their allied parties celebrated the result as a victory as their combined forces won slightly more seats than the PP and the far right. The bloc that could probably support Sanchez totaled 172 seats; the right block behind Feijoo, 170.

“It was a Pyrrhic victory for the Popular Party, which is incapable of forming a government,” said political analyst Veronica Fumanal, adding that the conservatives will now have to reach out to the far right, and even then that will not be enough.

"I see a deadlock scenario in Parliament."

The closer-than-expected outcome was likely to produce weeks of political maneuvering and uncertainty over the country's future direction. The next prime minister would not be elected until lawmakers are installed in the new Congress of Deputies.

But the odds of Sanchez securing the backing of 176 lawmakers - the absolute majority in the Madrid-based Lower House of Parliament - needed to form a government are also not great.

Partido Popular candidate Alberto Nunez (

Picture:

Oscar J. Barroso/REX/Shutterstock)

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