TW

Spain is in a bit of a political pickle. Unless, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), can reach an accord with any of the other parties on all sides of the political spectrum, then there will have to be new elections, The PSOE won the general elections in April but where unable to secure an overall majority in parliament. Sanchez, leader of the socialists, appeared to be a man on a mission; he had won the elections and wanted to form a government at once. But, he was short of an overall majority.

A pact with the far left Podemos appeared to be the best solution. But, Sanchez doesn’t want controversial Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, in his cabinet. So talks with their most likely bedfellows have stalled. If Sanchez can’t get enough votes in parliament next week then he will have no other option but to call another general election. And we will probably get the same result, the socialists will win but without an overall majority so we will be back to square one again.

It had been hoped that following Sanchez´s victory in the general elections there would be a degree of political stability in Spain after years of political upheaval. This does not appear to be the case. Another general election will just send out all the wrong messages about Spain. Sanchez needs to work hard to try and find a compromise with one of the parties. His most likely bedfellow would be Ciudadanos, the nearest thing in fact to the Liberal Democrats. But at the moment their door is closed.