MADRID: The leader of Spain’s conservative Popular Party said he would make efforts to form a government after his formation won the most seats in elections on Sunday but fell short of a working majority in the country’s parliament.
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Alberto Nunez Feijoo told supporters and workers gathered in front of the PP headquarters in Madrid, ” I believe it is my responsibility” to make an effort to form a government”, as we won the most seats in the country’s parliament.
Despite multiple polls forecasting a decisive win for Spain’s conservative Popular Party, Sunday’s election resulted in a hung parliament, according to official figures.
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As per AFP, with 99.5 percent of the votes counted, the Popular Party won with 136 seats, while the prime minister’s party came 2nd with 122 in the 350-seat of the country’s parliament — both parties far from the 176 needed to form the government.
Earlier, AFP reported that polls closed at 1800 GMT after eleven hours of voting.
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The incumbent PM
The incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, 51, has been in office since June 2018. Spain’s first premier to be fluent in English and the former economics professor, Sanchez, took power after winning a no-confidence vote against a conservative Popular Party (PP) government with the support of other smaller leftist parties as well as Basque and Catalan separatist formations. Sanchez has boosted the country’s influence in the European Union.
Known for risk-taking, he called the snap polls after his Socialists and their far-left coalition partner Podemos suffered a defeat in regional and local elections in May.
The conservative favorite
At the helm of Spain’s right-wing Popular Party (PP) for a year, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, 61, has steadied the party after one of the worst internal crises in its history.
He headed the regional government of his native Galicia in the rural northwest for 13 years, as well as the postal service and the former national health service. On his watch, the PP has consistently topped opinion polls.
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Feijoo has pledged to reverse many of Sanchez’s laws, including one seeking to tackle the legacy of the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
The popular Communist
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz — a member of the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) — managed to attract the support of 15 small leftist parties, including Podemos, to create a new movement called Sumar which she leads.
The ultranationalist
A PP member since his teens, Santiago Abascal cut ties with the party in late 2013 to help found the far-right Vox which he has since led.
