The elections came after an abrupt change of government in June, when Pedro Sánchez and his Socialist Party used a corruption scandal to oust Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party in a parliamentary vote. Late Sunday, Sánchez, the prime minister, declared victory again, even though his party fell short of an absolute majority in Parliament and he will need to find coalition partners to form a government. The Socialists won 123 of the 350 seats in Parliament, with 99.9% of the votes counted. On Sunday, 76% of the electorate turned out, about 9 percentage points higher than in the previous election, in 2016. The defeat could help force the ouster of Pablo Casado, who replaced Rajoy as party leader shortly after Sánchez won office.

Source: bd News24 April 29, 2019 06:56 UTC