TW

The economy and enterprise minister Nadia Calvino told CNBC on Friday that the Socialist Party wants to gain a majority this time round at the general election later this month. "Our hope would be to have a strong majority that would allow us to go on with a Socialist government and a very balanced and responsible reform agenda," she said.

She did not want to speculate "on other options", a coalition government, although that is looking a likely outcome. Vox are driving a far-right revival but a Vox, Partido Popular and Ciudadanos threesome is still failing to turn enough voters to form a right-wing coalition government. So, it looks like it will be business as usual, pretty much, when the elections results are revealed.

The Socialists have the lead in voting intentions ahead of the election, but they are still short of a parliamentary majority, even with backing from far-left allies Podemos, with whom they differ on certain matters. The winning margin is going to be wafer thin which means a fragmented Spain and a government which could crumble at any minute.

Sanchez crowned himself prime minister after winning a vote of no confidence in the PP’s Mariano Rajoy, but history does have the problem of repeating itself and should the far right continue to gain support after the elections, who is to say they will not try and turn the tables on Sanchez.