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December 21st, 2015 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Spain’s Partido Popular (PP) and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won the largest share of votes in this last weekend’s elections but lost the majority in parliament to left-wing parties the Socialist Party and Podemos. Rajoy vowed that he will try to form a minority government.
About 71% of registered voters cast their ballots in this weekend’s elections. The conservative Partido Popular (PP) won the greatest share of votes with 28% or 123 seats in the new 350 seat parliament.
The Socialist Party (PSOE) came in second with 22.0% or 90 seats. The leftist Podemos came in third with 20.7% or 69 seats. The new, pro-business / liberal Ciaudadanos won 19.9% or 40 seats. Others won a total of 7.1% or 26 seats while the IU-UPeC won 3.7% or 2 seats in the new parliament.
PP has lost its majority. However, coming out as the strongest single party, Partido Popular and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that he will attempt to form a minority government. Party spokespersons stressed that PP is the strongest party chosen by the Spanish people. PP nosedived from 44% in the 2011 elections to 28%, in 2015 signaling that the electorate has lost much of its confidence in Rajoy and PP.
Prime Minister Rajoy stressed that he will try to form a stable government as Spain needs security and confidence. Rajoy conceded that this was no easy task since non of the parties had received a clear majority.
Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez commented that it should be the strongest party should try to form a government. Sanchez added that the Spanish people had voted for the left and for change.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias celebrated the outcome of the elections saying that this was a historic day for Spain that would usher in a new era. Podemos has been running on an anti-Austerity platform and demands for social reform. Podemos has positioned itself as protest party that opposes entrenched corruption and EU compliant austerity policies.
The leader of the only one-year-old, pro-market / liberal Ciaudadanos party, Albert Rivera, said that he and his party want to play a key role in forming a majority government in Spain. Rivera stressed that his party would be “decisive” in forming a majority administration that will be able to change the country. The center Ciudadanos is likely to support Rajoy and the People’s Party even though the party also ran on a “protest party” style platform.
Spain is together with Greece, Italy and Portugal one of the EU members that suffers most economic hardship. Wages in Spain have, despite stringent austerity policies implemented by Rajoy and the PP still not recovered from 2008 levels. The unemployment rate has fallen to 21.6%; the second-highest unemployment rate in any EU country, superseded only by Greece.
F/AK – nsnbc 21.12.2015
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2015/12/21/rajoy-popular-party-win-spanish-elections-lose-majority/
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