Pedro Sánchez rules out return to polls after Spanish vote delivers hung parliament

The Spanish Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, has ruled out a return to the polls following Sunday’s inconclusive snap general election, insisting a new government can be formed after his ruling coalition was narrowly beaten by the opposition conservative People’s party (PP).  Numerous opinion polls had suggested the PP and its potential allies in the far-right Vox party would comfortably win enough votes to topple the government of Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and its partners in the far-left Unidas Podemos alliance.  The conservatives finished first with 136 seats in Spain’s 350-seat congress but found themselves up against a resurgent PSOE, which finished second with 122 seats. The Vox party, heavily touted as a kingmaker, suffered a crushing night with its seat count dropping from 52 to 33.  The hung parliament means the left and right blocs are trying to put together coalition governments while Sánchez remains as acting prime minister.  Between them, the PP and Vox won 169 seats – seven short of the threshold needed for an absolute majority in congress – while the PSOE and its allies in the new, far-left Sumar coalition won 153 seats between them. Although the right bloc has more seats, the left bloc has a greater chance of securing the support of smaller regional parties, many of which will be put off a potential PP government because of the party’s recent coalition deals with Vox following May’s regional and municipal elections.  PSOE sources said the acting prime minister had told his party there was no need for another election because he was “sure that our democracy can find a formula for government”.   However, Sánchez – who is routinely accused by his critics of being far too reliant on the votes of Catalan and Basque separatists – looks likely to need the backing of Junts, a hardline Catalan pro-independence party. Junts is the party of the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain to avoid arrest after his unilateral attempts to secure Catalan independence failed six years ago – and who is no fan of Sánchez.