I thought that Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, would last about a week in office when he toppled Mariano Rajoy last year and established a rather “slim” minority government.
Sanchez, was well short of a majority and had to rely on the support of smaller parties to get key legislation through parliament. One of the reasons why he called a general election was because his budget couldn´t get through parliament. His Spanish Socialist Party also suffered at the polls; Andalusia, a socialist stronghold was lost to a right-wing coalition for the first time in modern history. But Sanchez held his ground and he is now on course to be re-elected as Prime Minister but without an overall majority. He shouldn´t complain really because his party will receive the most number of votes.
So Sanchez has performed a sort of minor miracle by doing little because his hands are tied as he can´t get much through parliament. I think that he has some good points in his favour; he has tried to find a solution to the crisis in Catalonia through dialogue. Catalonia, with its pro-independence local authority, helped lead to the fall of Mariano Rajoy as Spanish prime Minister.
The latest opinion polls suggest that Spain will be ruled for the next four years by a left-wing coalition after the general elections later this month. Sanchez has managed to restore the fortunes of the Spanish Socialist Party which at one stage was in danger of losing out to the far left Podemos.