Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Head of Government. Matthias Oesterle/Demotix. All rights reserved
Spain celebrated general elections on Sunday the 20th of December and the result was an even worse than predicted fragmentation of the political landscape[1]. Although the governing Partido Popular of Mariano Rajoy won the greatest number of seats, the scandal-ridden party fell well short of the majority of 173 seats needed to form a government. To make matters worse, the centrist Ciudadanos party of Albert Rivera did considerably worse than expected after climbing steadily in the polls in the run-up to the election. This means that a Populares+Ciudadanos coalition would still far short of the majority needed to govern and gives the Spanish Left a powerful blocking position, which they have promised to exercise.
