Spain elections

JUST before Christmas and just hours after the Spanish election I wrote on our Facebook site that Spain was heading for a new general election. I was right but completely wrong on the time frame. The fact that it has taken Spain's political parties more than four months to decide that new elections were needed is an absolute disgrace. The election ended in stalemate and the chance of accord between any of the main parties was slim to say the least. The Partido Popular, the main winners of the elections but who fell short of a majority, have probably had the best post-election period. They haven't really got involved. The Partido Popular came to the conclusion from an early stage that they would be unable to form a suitable pact with any of the main parties and basically stayed on the sidelines. But the other three parties, the Socialists of Pedro Sanchez, the anti-austerity party Podemos and the centre-right Ciudadanos have all been involved in a frustrated bid to form a coalition. In the end they could not agree and this has led to the new general election. So what next? Spain goes to the polls and the overall winner is expected to be the Partido Popular but with a higher share of the vote. This will mean that they will be able to form a coalition with Ciudadanos and govern Spain for the next four years. This was the expected outcome of the general election last December but in the end both the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos fell short. They are now back in pole position.