Sanchez called the vote after his budget was defeated by the right-wing opposition and Catalan separatists. The anti-austerity United We Can party has offered to join a coalition government with the Socialists, but the Socialists might need to rely on other smaller parties as well, including the Catalan separatists. On the splintered right, three parties are competing for leadership: the once-dominant conservative Popular Party, the centre-right Citizens, and the nationalist, anti-migrant Vox party, which looks set to enter the lower house of the Parliament for the first time. Pablo Casado, who has steered the Popular Party further to the right to stop it from losing votes to the far-right Vox, called the ballot on Sunday the country’s “most decisive” in years. And for the first time since Spain transitioned to democracy, more than 100,000 people with mental disabilities are being allowed to vote in the general election.

Source: National Post April 28, 2019 18:45 UTC