The Spanish government have to work in a coalition form

For the first time in more than eighty years, a democratically elected Spanish government will have to work in a coalition. The pact between the socialist PSOE of the previous and the new Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the even more left-wing party Unidas Podemos gained the confidence of 167 parliamentarians today; 165 voted against, 18 abstained.

After a first government with the now disappeared center party UCD, the PSOE and the conservative People’s Party (PP) had alternately reigned since 1982, usually with an absolute majority. But the emergence of new parties such as Podemos on the left and Ciudadanos and Vox on the right fragmented voters’ preferences, eliminating the large majority of the classic two parties.

After repeating the elections because last year no government could be formed, Sánchez, as the winner of the polls, succeeded this time. He needed the support of some regional parties and the abstention of the votes of the Catalan ERC and the Basque Bildu. Support he will continue to need: PSOE and Podemos together have 155 seats, 21 under the absolute majority.