Spain premier’s path to survival is very narrow

Significance

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE), which finished second, will likely need the support of the hard-line pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) to prevail in an investiture vote, which must be won to form a minority government.

Impacts

• Vox performed poorly, but part of this was down to PP shifting further to the right in recent years.
• Failure to form a government could fuel calls within the PP for the populist Isabel Ayuso to replace Feijoo as leader.
• The result is a blow for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to deepen centre- and far-right cooperation at the EU level.