Right-wing bloc set to win majority in Spain election, surveys show

MADRID, July 23 (Reuters) – Spain could have its first far-right participation in government since the days of Francisco Franco after surveys taken in the final week of campaigning showed the centre-right People’s Party (PP) and the anti-Muslim, anti-feminist Vox winning enough seats in Sunday’s election to form a coalition.

PP was set to win 150 seats, while Vox had 31 seats, enough for a majority in the 350-seat parliament, according to a GAD3 voter survey released after polls closed.

A survey by Sigma Dos was less conclusive, predicting 145-150 seats for PP and 24-27 seats for Vox, which could mean the two parties would fall short at the lower range of its poll.

The Socialists were set to win 112 seats, according to GAD3, and 113-118 seats according to Sigma Dos, while the far-left platform led by Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz had either 27 seats or 28-31 seats.

GAD3 said its poll surveyed 10,000 people and closed on July 22. The Sigma Dos survey of 17,000 people closed on Sunday.

Whether the PP and Vox do unite to form Spain’s second-ever coalition government will depend on negotiations between the parties in coming days, weeks or even months.

While PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo has said he would prefer to govern alone, PP and Vox have already teamed up to govern in dozens of regions and cities since local elections in May.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal has said he is open to “creating an alternative” to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s left-wing coalition government.

A PP government is not expected to significantly shift Spain’s economic or foreign policies, though it could water down the previous government’s green agenda. Under the Socialists, Spain has been one of the biggest champions in the European Union of policies to slow climate change.

Vox was founded in 2013 but grew in popularity in response to the handling by the PP of the 2017 failed attempt by Catalan nationalists to force independence from Spain.

Vox proposes the expulsion of illegal migrants and a naval blockade to stop them arriving, and the closure of mosques promoting “radical Islam or jihad”, while supporting immigration meeting the needs of Spain’s labour market and from nationalities with a shared language or culture.

It has also vowed to repeal progressive laws on transgender rights, abortion and animal rights, along with climate protections promoted by Sanchez.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal has said the party doesn’t have a position on Spain’s former dictator Franco, who ruled until his death in 1975 after winning a bloody civil war in 1939. But Abascal has also said that Sanchez’s government was the worst in 80 years, a period that includes Franco’s regime.

Reporting by Horaci Garcia, Guillermo Martinez, Andrei Khalip, Belen Carreno, Jesus Aguado, Emma Pinedo and Catarina Demony
Writing by Charlie Devereux
Editing by Nick Macfie and Frances Kerry

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