The big news on Sunday was that the Socialist Party (PSOE), led by Pedro Sánchez, won the highest number of seats at the Spanish general election. But the outcome of the vote also had an impact on other issues. Here is a roundup of other important news concerning the results that you might have missed.

High-profile losses

The outcome of Sunday’s vote has meant that some well-known figures are losing their congressional seats, particularly within the Popular Party (PP), which lost 71 seats on Sunday – a historically poor result for the conservative group. These include Mari Mar Blanco, sister of Miguel Ángel Blanco, a PP councilor who was kidnapped and executed by the Basque terrorist group ETA in July 1997. Blanco, who now heads the Terrorism Victims Foundation, had been a PP deputy since 2016.

Podemos candidate Rita Bosaho, Spain’s first black member of Congress, lost her seat on Sunday. Pepe Olivares

Also out is Rita Bosaho, a Podemos deputy who gained media attention in December 2015 when she became the first black person to sit inside Spanish Congress. Bosaho was running as number three for Alicante province, where Podemos only earned two seats.

No bullfighters in Congress

None of the bullfighters who were running with the PP and Vox have made it into Congress. The far-right Vox, whose defense of hunting and bullfighting has been one of its key policies, had a matador named Serafín Marín on its Barcelona list. Instead, Vox’s only seat representing Barcelona province will go to an atypical party member: Ignacio Garriga,whose father is Catalan and mother is from Equatorial Guinea.

The PP had also enlisted toreros: Salvador Vega for Málaga and Miguel Abellán for Madrid. Neither one has made it into the lower house.

Valencia election

Besides voting in the general election, residents of the Valencia region also cast their ballots for their regional representatives on Sunday. The Valencia branch of the Socialist Party, the PSPV-PSOE, received the highest number of votes, representing its first victory in 28 years in a region that had been long run by the PP. In 2015, the PP won the most seats but an alliance between the Socialists, Podemos and the regional Compromís ushered in a leftist executive. Regional premier Ximo Puig has opened talks in a bid to renew the alliance.

PSOE premier Ximo Puig celebrates after win at regional elections in Valencia. ©GTRES

Historic win in the Senate

The Socialist Party won an absolute majority in the Senate, breaking 25 years of PP control. The PSOE now holds 121 seats in the upper house, a significant rise from the 43 the party took at the 2016 polls. In addition to the senators elected by popular vote, the PSOE has 18 others who were appointed by the regional legislatures. This gives Sánchez’s party a total of 139 seats in the 266-seat Senate, where the absolute majority is 134. Not since 1993 has the PSOE been the most-voted party in the Senate.

As in Congress, the PP suffered a crushing defeat in the Senate vote, losing 74 seats to be left with just 56 seats. The remaining seats were won by the Catalan Republican Left-Sovereigntists (ERC-Sobiranistes) (11 seats), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) (9), Ciudadanos (Citizens, 4), Navarra Suma (3), Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) (2), Gomera Socialist Group (ASG) (1) and EH Bildu (1) from the Basque Country.

Animal-rights group misses out on a seat

The Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) once again missed out on a seat in Congress. Although the group won 1.25% of the vote, the equivalent of more than 300,000 ballots, the party did not win a seat in Congress because support was spread out across the country. Spain uses the D’Hondt method of proportional representation, according to which some votes carry more weight depending on where they are cast.

PACMA office on election night. KIKE PARA EL PAÍS

“How can you justify the fact that the 50,000 people who voted for the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) have representation and the 300,000 who voted for PCMA are left out again?” asked PACMA candidate Laura Duarte.

Despite the disappointing result, the party is optimistic about their chances at the upcoming European elections.

English version by Susana Urra. </s> A far-right party on Sunday won seats in a Spanish regional parliament for the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, results in Andalusia's election showed.

With 93 percent of the votes counted, the small Vox party took 12 seats, handing a majority to right-wing parties in the southern Spanish region governed by the Socialists for the last 36 years.

The result means that Vox, which opposes illegal immigration and Catalan independence, has exceeded even the most optimistic poll predictions which had forecast a possible five seat win.

The Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) scored the worst result in its history winning 33 seats so far.

Its potential ally on the left Adelante Andalusia (Forward Andalusia) picked up only 17 seats, depriving the left of a majority, while the conservative Popular Party (PP) won 26 seats and the Ciudadanos liberals took 21 seats.

The poll had been seen as the first of a series of tests for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

It was Sanchez's first electoral test since taking office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

His Socialists had ruled Andalusia since 1982.

The vote, however, is a mere foretaste of the coming 'super election year': 2019 will see municipal, regional and European elections and perhaps even an early general election to coincide with the other May polls.

All eyes will now be on Vox which can try to use Andalusia as a springboard in next year's elections.

If it did win a seat in the next general election, it would be the first time a far-right party had had a presence in Spain's lower house of parliament since 1982.

In all, 6.5 million were eligible to vote in the ballot in Andalusia, the country's most populous region and among its poorest.

The PSOE's Susana Diaz -- who last year unsuccessfully challenged Sanchez for the party leadership -- had been seeking to retain the regional presidency while also giving Sanchez and the national party a fillip.

But Vox sought to throw a spoke in their wheels by adding its voice to traditional conservative forces led by the PP and market-friendly Ciudadanos, which has in recent years challenged the PP for the mantle of Spain's dominant liberal force.

"These elections are key as a first step in the removal of Pedro Sanchez" and the PSOE from the government, PP leader Pablo Casado told Radio COPE on Friday.

Casado said a defeat in its traditional southern fiefdom would render the PSOE's attempt to retain power nationally "unsustainable." The Socialists are already walking a tightrope given they hold just 84 seats in the 350-seat national assembly.

Both the PP and Ciudadanos had said during the campaign that if rightwing forces together won a majority of seats they would not rule out accepting support in the regional chamber from Vox.

Vox's campaigning had mainly been against illegal immigration and any decentralisation of powers from Madrid.

"Vox is going to back whichever option entails throwing out Susana Diaz and the Socialist Party" from the regional administration, party deputy-leader Javier Ortega Smith said Saturday.

Diaz meanwhile called for "stability" as she ended her campaign, warning voters against forces of the right and far-right that "want to take us backwards".

Turnout by 1700 GMT was 46.4 percent, the regional government said -- five points down on the last election in 2015. </s> MADRID (AP) — A fragmented Spanish Parliament convened Tuesday after last month’s inconclusive general election, including for the first time Catalan politicians released from pre-trial detention for the occasion, as well as two dozen lawmakers…

MADRID (AP) — A fragmented Spanish Parliament convened Tuesday after last month’s inconclusive general election, including for the first time Catalan politicians released from pre-trial detention for the occasion, as well as two dozen lawmakers from an upstart far-right party.

Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez won the national election but fell short of enough seats to form a government on his own. He has put off negotiations on governing alliances until after the European ballot concludes on Sunday, which in Spain coincides with votes to elect local councils and a dozen regional governments.

Escorted by police, four separatists on trial for Catalonia’s 2017 secession attempt, including former Catalan regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras, appeared in the Congress of Deputies, while former Catalan regional minister for international relations Raül Romeva was ferried to the Senate from a jail some 40 kilometers outside of Madrid.

The Supreme Court has allowed them to attend the opening sessions in Madrid but they are likely to be barred from future meetings by the chambers’ governing bodies elected on Tuesday.

Dressed in suits and exchanging embraces and greetings with other lawmakers, Junqueras and the three others took seats in the Congress of Deputies among political opponents, including two far-right Vox party deputies who are also prosecutors in their ongoing trial for rebellion and other charges that could land them in prison for decades.

Vox is the first parliamentary party that openly espouses Spanish nationalism since dictator Gen. Francisco Franco died in 1975. It wants to use its 24 seats among the 350 lower house lawmakers to propose legal reforms on abortion, violence against women and migration.

The eruption of Vox in the late April election split the right-wing vote into three groups, which together fell short of the 176 majority. As a result, competition for the leadership of the opposition has intensified between two parties — the once-dominant conservative Popular Party and the center-right Citizens.

The Socialists were the leading party in the election with 123 seats. But with Citizens ruling out any pacts to support a Socialist administration, Sánchez’s efforts to form a government are centered on the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos, which holds 42 seats, and some other smaller groups.

Those votes were key on Tuesday in the election of Socialist lawmakers from Catalonia was speakers of both houses: Meritxell Batet in the Congress of Deputies and Manuel Cruz in the Senate.

Sánchez said they had been proposed because both are “loyal to Spain” and because they have shown “an unwavering vocation for dialogue.”

“They are Catalans at the service of Spain and Spaniards at the service of Catalonia,” the prime minister told his Socialist lawmakers.

The speakers’ first task will be meeting with their governing bodies and deciding whether to suspend the elected separatist lawmakers because they are in jail while awaiting trial.

Tuesday’s unconventional session provided a number of odd situations to satisfy media camera lenses. Vox’s deputies chose to take seats that in past sessions had been occupied by the Socialists, placing the far-right party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, right behind Sánchez and other members of the Socialists’ caretaker government.

Sánchez greeted Abascal with a handshake. The Socialist leader also shook hands with Junqueras, who has become a symbol for pro-independence supporters in the northeastern Catalonia region.

Two Socialist lawmakers also made the rounds on social media when they posed near Abascal in T-shirts bearing an emoji with the rainbow flag. The icon has become popular and has been dubbed “Gaysper” after Vox used it during last month’s general election to target defenders of gay rights in a viral tweet.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> The Socialist Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has won the highest number of seats but fallen short of an absolute majority at the snap general election that was held in Spain on Sunday. With around 95% of the vote counted, the PSOE has won 123 seats while Unidas Podemos – a coalition of United Left and anti-austerity group Podemos – picked up 42. Together, these two parties account for 165 seats, which is below the 176 needed for an absolute majority, meaning Sánchez will need the support of regional parties if he is to govern.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday, losing around 70 seats in Congress to be left with just 66. The center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens) performed better, winning 57 deputies in Congress. Meanwhile the far-right party Vox took 24 seats in its debut national election. Since Blas Piñar, a far-right politician linked to former dictator Francisco Franco, lost his seat in Congress in 1982, no political party with a similar ideology has set foot in any of the country’s parliaments.

High turnout

Spaniards headed to the polls on Sunday, April 28, for the third time in less than four years to cast their vote in an election dominated by uncertainty. Polls ahead of the election predicted the Socialist Party (PSOE) would win the highest number of seats in Congress but there were doubts as to whether they would have enough seats to form government. A number of factors were tipped to shift the political landscape in Spain, most importantly the rise of the far-right party Vox, which made shock gains at the regional elections in Andalusia in December.

In the face of this fractured outlook, Spaniards poured into polling stations across the country, with voter turnout at around 75% – 8.5 percentage points more than the 2016 polls. The turnout was particularly high in Catalonia, where the independence drive has deeply divided the region. The rise was most notable in inland areas in Catalonia that are the strongest supporters of independence.

Vox had targeted the breakaway region during its election campaign, promising to get rid of Spain’s current system of devolved regional powers.

In two televised debates ahead of the election, PP leader Pablo Casado and Ciudadanos chief Albert Rivera also promised to take a hardline approach on the separatist movement. In early April, sources close to Casado said he would apply Article 155 of the Constitution, a measure that gives the central government emergency powers to suspend Catalonia’s autonomous powers, if he won the election and achieved an absolute majority in the Senate.

Por una España de libres e iguales en donde recuperemos la convivencia y no tengamos que ver nunca más cómo se le niega hasta el saludo a la líder de la oposición @InesArrimadas.



🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/TOqP3zp7am — Toni Cantó (@Tonicanto1) April 28, 2019 “For a free and equal Spain where we recover social harmony and never have to see again how even the leader of the opposition is denied a handshake.”

The tense situation over the issue of Catalan independence led to two incidents at polling stations in the region. In the first, an electoral official refused to shake the hand of Inés Arrimadas, a candidate in Barcelona for center-right party Ciudadanos.

Por cosas como esta, cada minuto que pasa necesitamos con más urgencia #MásPPMásEspaña🇪🇸. Esto es intolerable. No podrán con nosotros.

Todo nuestro apoyo a @cayetanaAT Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. pic.twitter.com/9uskyMUP8e — Partido Popular 🇪🇸 (@populares) April 28, 2019 “Due to things like this, with each minute that passes, we more urgently need #MorePPMoreSpain. This is intolerable. They will not defeat us. All our support for Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo”

And in the second, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, a candidate for the PP in Barcelona, was blocked by several people from entering a polling station in Montcada i Reixac, and confronted as she left.

Aside from these incidents, voting went ahead largely without issues. According to the National Police, 92,000 officers were on duty on Sunday to ensure the smooth running of the polls.

Mobilization of the left

In the lead up to the election, Prime Minister Sánchez warned voters that there was “a real risk that the right could join with the far right” in a bid to reduce voter apathy, which was one of the factors behind the Socialists’ defeat at the Andalusian regional election.

Susana Díaz, the former regional premier of Andalusia who was ousted from power in December thanks to an agreement between the PP, Ciudadanos and Vox, warned on election day that “when the left doesn’t mobilize, the right wins.”

Images of Vox’s large-scale campaign rallies fed progressive fears about the possibility of seeing the far right in government again in a country where this ideology was in power via a dictatorship until 1976, and where many people thought it had since died out.

English version by Melissa Kitson. </s> A far-right party won seats in a Spanish regional parliament for the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, results in Andalusia's election showed.

With more than 99 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, the small Vox party took 12 seats, handing a majority to right-wing parties in the southern Spanish region governed by the Socialists for more than three decades.

The result means that Vox, which opposes illegal immigration and Catalan independence, has exceeded even the most optimistic poll predictions which had forecast a possible five seat win.

"The Andalusians have made history... and got rid of 36 years of socialist rule," said Vox leader Santiago Abascal.

The Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) scored the worst result in its history winning 33 seats.

Its potential ally on the left Adelante Andalusia (Forward Andalusia) picked up only 17 seats, depriving the left of a majority, while the conservative Popular Party (PP) won 26 seats and the Ciudadanos liberals took 21 seats.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen sent "warm congratulations" in a tweet to her "Vox friends".

The poll had been seen as the first of a series of tests for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

It was Sanchez's first electoral test since taking office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

His Socialists had ruled Andalusia since 1982.

The vote, however, is a mere foretaste of the coming 'super election year': 2019 will see municipal, regional and European elections and perhaps even an early general election to coincide with the other May polls.

All eyes will now be on Vox which can try to use Andalusia as a springboard in next year's elections.

If it did win a seat in the next general election, it would be the first time a far-right party had had a presence in Spain's lower house of parliament since 1982.

In all, 6.5 million were eligible to vote in the ballot in Andalusia, the country's most populous region and among its poorest.

The PSOE's Susana Diaz -- who last year unsuccessfully challenged Sanchez for the party leadership -- had been seeking to retain the regional presidency while also giving Sanchez and the national party a fillip.

But Vox sought to throw a spoke in their wheels by adding its voice to traditional conservative forces led by the PP and market-friendly Ciudadanos, which has in recent years challenged the PP for the mantle of Spain's dominant liberal force.

"These elections are key as a first step in the removal of Pedro Sanchez" and the PSOE from the government, PP leader Pablo Casado told Radio COPE on Friday.

Casado said a defeat in its traditional southern fiefdom would render the PSOE's attempt to retain power nationally "unsustainable." The Socialists are already walking a tightrope given they hold just 84 seats in the 350-seat national assembly.

Both the PP and Ciudadanos had said during the campaign that if rightwing forces together won a majority of seats they would not rule out accepting support in the regional chamber from Vox.

Vox's campaigning had mainly been against illegal immigration and any decentralisation of powers from Madrid.

Pablo Iglesias, leader of the far-left Podemos party, called on all leftist groups to mobilise "to defend liberties, social justice, fraternity and ultimately democracy".

Diaz meanwhile called for "stability" as she ended her campaign, warning voters against forces of the right and far-right that "want to take us backwards". </s> Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists have won snap elections without the necessary majority to govern solo in a fragmented political landscape marked by the far-right’s entry into parliament.

The results raise the spectre of another period of instability for Spain, with Sanchez depending on alliances with hostile rivals in an environment that has soured since Catalonia’s failed secession bid in 2017.

A significant development was the rise of the ultra-nationalist Vox party, which garnered just over 10 percent of the vote in a country that has had no far-right party to speak of since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Sanchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) got 123 lawmakers out of 350, or close to 29 percent of votes — short of an absolute majority but much better than the 85 seats it got in 2016.

“The Socialists have won the general election and with it the future has won and the past has lost,” he told cheering supporters from the balcony of the party’s headquarters in Madrid, claiming victory late Sunday.

The big loser was the conservative Popular Party (PP), which bagged 66 seats compared to 137 in the previous election that saw it govern Spain with a minority government.

Sanchez, who came to power in June after ousting conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote, could seek to forge alliances with far-left Podemos and smaller groupings like Catalan separatist parties, as he had done over the past 10 months.

He could also try to cosy up to centre-right Ciudadanos, which won 57 seats. Together, they would form an absolute majority but voters from both parties would likely frown on such a move.

“I hope Sanchez won’t reach an agreement with Ciudadanos, I want a left-wing government,” 51-year-old Esther Lopez, said at the Socialist Party headquarters, wearing earrings marked “PSOE.”

Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera, built his campaign on disparaging Sanchez, criticising his attempts to negotiate with Catalan separatist parties in a bid to ease a secession crisis in the northeastern region. </s> Nearly 75% of eligible Spaniards turned out to vote Sunday, with exit poll's projecting a large victory for Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) against the far-right party Vox and the conservative People's Party. But the victory isn't a slam dunk for those worried about the populist wave seemingly sweeping the globe.

It's projected that PSOE, the party of the country's current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, will secure the most parliamentary seats, between 116 and 120, but ultimately split the majority with the People's Party, according to The Guardian, which is projected to win 65 or 66 seats. In 2016, People's Party won 137 seats.

PSOE will have to join with another party to form a government. If they don't, it's possible that another election could be called.

The much-watched far-right party Vox is projected to only win between 36 and 38 seats. The low numbers may seem like a loss on their face, but in fact, the number of seats won mark a significant victory for the party. A far-right party has not been represented in Spanish parliament since the end of military rule in the country in the 1970s, according to the BBC.

Vox, whose leaders have outspokenly opposed feminism, free immigration policy, and social welfare programs, has centered their existence around resisting the effort of Catalan separatists to make the Spanish state separate from Spain as a whole.

The party won its first major victory in a regional election in December, where it took 11% of the vote. With its national victory, it's cemented itself as a major political player for years to come.

Catalonia’s Independence supporters march during a demonstration on November 11, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Besides playing an extremely important role as a foil for Vox, the issues of Catalonia was key leading up to the election.

PM Sanchez was only elected through forming a coalition with autonomous Basque and Catalan parties. They would eventually reject Sanchez's budget in February which led the prime minister to call snap elections in an attempt to solidify more power.

While Sanchez did not support succession, his cooperation and work with Catalan secessionists appeared to fuel criticisms from Vox.

Now, it's not clear who Sanchez will seek out to form a government. Left-wing party Podemos shares similar values with PSOE, but are only projected to win around 14% of the vote.

Spain is headed for its tightest election in decades — here's how it could all go haywire

Here's what you need to know about 8 big elections that will affect 2.2 billion people </s> A far-right party has won seats in a Spanish regional parliament for the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

With 99% of the votes counted in Andalucía, the small Vox party took 12 seats in the 109-member regional parliament.

The Socialists won the election, but saw their support plummet to just 33 seats, compared to 47 in 2015 – far from the majority of 55 seats needed to govern.

The result means that Vox, which opposes illegal immigration and Catalan independence, has exceeded even the most optimistic poll predictions which had forecast a possible five seat win. The party’s platform includes restricting abortion and rolling back domestic violence laws.

Vox had not previously held any seats in any legislative body in Spain since its founding four years ago, and now it has the key to forming a government in the nation’s most populated region.

“Now is the moment to say loud and clear who we are and that we have come to stay,” Vox candidate Francisco Serrano told a crowd of supporters who chanted: “Spain! Spain! Spain!”

Andalucía has been a Socialist bastion for 36 years, but the party could lose control of the government if parties on the right join forces to oust regional leader Susana Diaz, though that would require that they join forces with Vox.

“Despite winning the election it is a sad night for the Socialist Party,” Diaz said.

“There has been a real loss of ground for the Left. But the worst thing is that the extreme right, a phenomenon that has appeared in the rest of Europe, has arrived here.”

Diaz said she would call on other parties to “build a firewall against the extreme right in Spain.”

“Each party must decide if they are against the extreme right or if they will rely on their support to enter into government,” she said.

The Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) scored the worst result in its history winning 33 seats so far.

Its potential ally on the left Adelante Andalusia (Forward Andalusia) picked up only 17 seats, depriving the left of a majority, while the conservative Popular Party (PP) won 26 seats and the Ciudadanos liberals took 21 seats.

The poll had been seen as the first of a series of tests for Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez.

It was Sanchez’s first electoral test since taking office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

His Socialists had ruled Andalusia since 1982.

The vote is a mere foretaste of the coming “super election year”: 2019 will see municipal, regional and European elections and perhaps even an early general election to coincide with the other May polls.

All eyes will now be on Vox, which could try to use Andalusia as a springboard in next year’s elections.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report </s> Voters in on Sunday headed to the polls for the third time in four years. The ruling (PSOE) expected to win the but fall short of a majority.

The election is marked by rise of the far-right movement Vox, which opposes multiculturalism and has threatened to end self-rule for regions like Catalonia. has presented himself as a bulwark against the advance of the hard right.

Polls suggest will lead the vote, but no single group will win an overall majority, the reported.

The opinion poll in newspaper put the PSOE at about 30 per cent, the conservative (PP) at around 20 per cent, the centre-right Ciudadanos and left-leaning Podemos both near 14 per cent and the far right party at about 11 per cent. However, it also showed up to four in 10 voters were yet to make up their mind.

Voting began at 9 a.m. and will end at 8 p.m. on the mainland.

Speaking after casting vote at a polling station near Madrid, Sanchez said he hoped for stability. "After many years of instability and uncertainty, it's important that today we send a clear, defined message about the we want. And from there a broad parliamentary majority must be built that can support a stable government," he said.

An exit poll will be published after the end of voting, but in the previous two elections it failed to give an accurate picture of the outcome.

Almost all votes are expected to be counted by midnight.

The highly polarised campaign was dominated by issues like, national identity, equality and the future of Catalonia. The semi-autonomous region of Catalonia held an independence referendum in October 2017 and declared its independence from weeks later.

A dozen of its leaders have since gone on trial in Madrid, facing charges, including rebellion and sedition.

Analysts say support for has been boosted by widespread anger at the independence drive. The party opposes any concessions to secessionists.

Women's rights have also been a key poll topic. Gender-based violence has provoked debate and street protests across Spain for years and more politicians than ever are courting women's votes. Vox, however, has spoken out against what it calls "radical feminism" that it claims "criminalises" men.

With polls suggesting no clear mandate, observers say the vote could plunge Spain into a prolonged period of political uncertainty. This also means chances of a repeat election are high.

Particularly notable within the split vote is the rise in support for who are set to become the first far-right party to sit in Parliament since 1982.
The Valencian regional election is held concurrently. The ruling left-wing alliance led by PSPV-PSOE wins a majority.