Spain's Socialists win election but need support of other parties to form government
  • 5 years ago
Spain held its third general election in four years on Sunday.
For more on this and other news around the world, let's turn to Hong Yoo.
So Yoo, we hear the results are out now... so fill us in.
Well, Mark, Sunday's election resulted in a victory for the socialist PSOE party with 123 seats out of a total 350.
The mainstream conservative People's Party had a terrible night with their seats dwindling from 137 to 66.
The center-right Ciudadanos party has 57 seats, the left-wing Unidas Podemos has 35 seats, and the new far-right party Vox won 24 seats.
Even with the support of the left-wing Podemos party, the PSOE will need the help of pro-Catalan independence parties to form a government, as the two left-leaning parties are short of the necessary 176 for a majority.
Voter turnout was at its highest since 2008 with 75-point-79 percent even though it was the third election in four years.
The PSOE's leader Pedro Sanchez had called this election after his government's fiscal plan was refused by rightwing parties and separatist Catalan parties in February.
Back then, Sanchez's government was criticized for not passively approaching the issue of Catalan independence and for being too beholden to the parties that helped him clinch power.
The highly polarized campaign for the 2019 general election was dominated by issues including national identity, gender equality and the future of Catalonia.
Spain is the only country in Western Europe that has never been governed by a coalition government.
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