During the evening, many pointed to the Partido Popular, PP, being able to form an absolute majority together with the support of Vox, according to TV4’s foreign reporter Filip Jacobson who is on the spot in Madrid.
But the socialist PSOE surprised during the election with a relatively strong result and was tied with the PP when more than half of the votes were counted.
As a result, the government negotiations seem to have reached a deadlock.
– This election has been described as a fateful choice by both sides, because there are such extreme visions of what kind of country Spain should be, says Filip Jacobson.
Could be a day of joy for the radical right
The party Vox has primarily directed its criticism at immigrants and LGBTQI people.
– In those camps, there is of course now a great deal of concern about what this will end up in. And the election campaign has been very much about exactly that type of issue, and there Vox has undoubtedly determined the discourse, says Filip Jacobson.
According to previous polls, the Spaniards themselves value issues such as the economy, unemployment and healthcare much higher than, for example, immigration.
– Then we can say that this wave of success that the European right and the European radical right is driving, it is now continuing in Spain. So if this happens, it will of course be a day of joy for the radical right in Europe, says Filip Jacobson.
Possibly deprived of PP and Vox’s own majority
Both the ruling government party PSOE and the left-wing alliance Sumar have succeeded better than it first looked like they would and that is surprising, says political scientist Niklas Bremberg.
– They may not be the biggest, but they have possibly deprived PP and Vox of an opportunity to get their own majority in parliament.
Voter turnout in Spain was 53 percent, with almost 2.5 million postal votes. The participation is a decrease of almost four percent compared to the election in November 2019, reports the news company RTVE.