As it happened | Socialist Party wins general election, but falls short of majority
With more than 95% of the vote counted, the PSOE has taken 122 seats, with leftist parties victorious over right-wing Popular Party, Ciudadanos and Vox
With more than 95% of the vote counted, the Socialist Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won the Spanish general election on Sunday. The PSOE took 122 seats, while the anti-austerity party Podemos secured 42. Together the left-wing bloc has 164 deputies in Congress, which falls short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority. This means that Sánchez will need support from regional parties if he is to govern.
Meanwhile, the conservative Popular Party (PP) has won just 66 seats – less than half the number it obtained at the 2016 polls. The PP failed to win any seats in the Basque Country region, and won just one in Catalonia. The center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens) has picked up 57 seats, while the far-right group Vox has won 24. Together, the three parties have 146 seats in Congress.
Voter turnout at the polls was 75.79% – nine percentage points higher than the 2016 election.
This was Spain’s third general election in less than four years and was called after Sánchez failed to garner support in Congress for his 2019 budget plan.
Below you can read our live blog of events as they happened on Sunday.
That concludes our live coverage of today’s general election in Spain.
Thank you for reading, we’ll be back in the morning with more coverage. In the meantime, here is our report on the result with some background on the campaign.
Natalia Junquera reports: “Debacle,” “catastrophe,” “complete disaster.” Those are the comments being made by PP leaders, who are coming to terms with their crushing defeat today at the polls. The moderate sector of the party, which was moved aside by Pablo Casado, feels vindicated. “We have lost the center […[ for not attacking Vox.”
“We have come to support the PP at their most critical moment,” says Iván, 14, and his father, 39, on an empty Génova street outside the Madrid HQ. “We want them to know we are here,” says the younger of the two. The Popular party has dropped to 66 seats (in 2016 it had 137), according to the results so far
Patricia Gosálvez reports.
Desolate scene outside the PP headquarters in Madrid, on Génova street.
Patricia Gosálvez reports. “A while ago they were planning to block the street, but it hasn’t happened so far. There are literally four people here. Paola and Catriel, 17 and 20, a couple, are two of them. They are upset. ‘What a disappointment. Vox and Podemos are more fashionable,’ they say
No one outside the Madrid headquarters of the Popular Party, on Génova street.
Patricia Gosálvez tweets for EL PAÍS: “9.15pm Génova. Not a soul. Bored photographers. ‘Not even one with a flag,’ they say while smoking. Some of them head to the other sidewalk, on their way to Colón, where the Vox supporters are.”
“Thanks to the public workers and a big hug for the party activists and electoral officials.” Those are, up until now, the only words from Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias on this election night. The candidate for Unidas Podemos sent the message from his car, on the way to Madrid’s Goya Theater to join the rest of his party. “The best campaign of our history,” was how he summed up the run-up to today’s polls.
