The leader of Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) Alberto Feijóo is facing internal pressure from the right of his party to resign after failing to secure a working majority in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Both PP and the nationalist VOX party seriously underperformed in the weekend vote which saw a stronger-than-expected showing for incumbent socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his PSOE Party.
Liberal commentators have been quick to pin the result on the electorate’s fears of a PP-VOX alliance of the Right, as VOX saw their number of parliamentary seats almost halved due to what party leader Santiago Abascal blamed on a poor electoral strategy from PP.
Spain could be facing weeks of uncertainty and the possibility of another round of elections after neither the Left nor the Right achieved clear majorities to govern the 350-person national parliament. King Felipe VI will mediate talks with the political factions since no clear winner has emerged in parliamentary elections, despite speculation Spain could be the latest European nation to lurch to the Right.
It is bad news for PP leader Feijóo who had expected to translate strong municipal results and polling numbers to become the next Spanish PM. Feijóo was jeered by party members in Madrid despite securing an overall increase in the party’s vote share.
PP’s regional Madrid leader, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has been tipped as a potential challenger to Feijóo with Ayuso understood to be far more popular among the party’s grassroots.
Ayuso, who is situated on the right of the PP, as opposed to the more moderate Feijóo, has so far not voiced her intentions to move against Feijóo but has stated her wish for separatists in Catalonia and the Basque country not to weaponise the election results against Spanish unity.
The last week of campaigning saw Feijóo and his campaign plagued with accusations of consorting with members of the Spanish underworld, as the PSOE accused the PP of opening the door to the return of the hard Right by toying with the idea of cooperating with VOX.
There is mounting speculation that PSOE could extend an olive branch to Catalan nationalists to form a new coalition government as the separatist Junts party is reported to be already making overtures to the Sanchez camp in exchange for amnesty for its exiled leadership and promise of a new referendum.
The botched 2017 referendum on Catalan independence, and the risk to Spanish unity, formed the background of the rise of the populist VOX as the nationalists alleged that both socialists and the centre right were playing fast and loose with Spanish unity.
