The centre-left Socialist party won re-election in Sunday's ballot, collecting nearly 29% of votes, and will try to form a government. It would be one of only a handful of socialist governments in the European Union.
Even an alliance with the far-left, anti-austerity party United We Can wouldn't give the Socialists the key number of 176 seats. Forging cross-party alliances has proved difficult for political negotiators and has unsettled Spanish governments. In 2015, a splintered parliamentary outcome from a general election led to inconclusive negotiations and a repeat election the following year.
The centre-right Citizens party, which has in many aspects been hostile to the Socialists' political agenda, shot from 32 to 57 seats, while the Popular Party lost more than half of its parliamentary representation as it fell to 66 seats.
No far-right conservatism. Never. Nasty conservatism. Did we not learn anything from America. Why do conservatives vote against our youth and young families and support corporate tax breaks. Hmmmm.