Spanish socialist leader, Pedro Sanchez, took a gamble and called a new election hoping that his party would take an even larger share of the vote. He had little choice really because, eventhough he won the general elections in April, he failed to secure a majority and none of the mainstream parties would consider a coalition. So he called another election and although he won again his socialists polled even fewer votes. So Sanchez now has an even bigger problem.
The combined strength of the parties on the left will not give him a majority; the only good point for Sanchez is the parties on the right are in the same boat. His Spain was in political deadlock before the problem is now even more pronounced. Sanchez has ruled out a coalition with the right wing Partido Popular and he refuses to even talk to Vox, the far right party which saw their share of the vote surge. So what can he do? He has promised to form a government but with what support.
I suspect that Sanchez may be forced to call yet another general election in the New Year, which will be bad news for Spain. Apart from Vox, there was no real winner in Sunday´s poll.
The riots in Catalonia following the jailing of various pro-independence politicians have been blamed for the rise in support for Vox. The fact that there is no political majority makes it even harder for Spain to even try and resolve the crisis in Catalonia. At the moment, politically speaking, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.