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Spanish elections end in stalemate

July 26th, 2023

Commentators try to draw lessons from the political uncertainty resulting from Sunday’s parliamentary election in Spain.

In Népszava, Tamás Rónay welcomes the outcome of the elections as a moral victory for the opponents of Vox, the radical right-wing party that was expected to enter the new government in alliance with the moderate right-wing People’s Party. He takes their failure to win a majority in the Cortes as a defeat for PM Orbán, who was counting on a right-wing shift in Europe. Previous examples of radical right-wingers being voted into government in Sweden, Finland and Italy have all proven a disappointment for the Hungarian Prime Minister, he writes, because they have taken more moderate positions once in power. This time around, masses of Spaniards stood up for democracy, Rónay concludes, by preventing Vox from making it to the government.

In Magyar Nemzet, László Szőcs draws three lessons from the Spanish elections. In the first place, he suggests, Spaniards have punished the left-wing government for its excesses in introducing transgender legislation that has made it easier for minors to transition. Secondly, he continues, voters also expressed dissatisfaction with the European political mainstream. Thirdly, he blames the proportional electoral system for preventing the 45 percent relative right-wing majority from forming a government, and in general for making it impossible to form a stable parliamentary majority. Hungary’s semi-majoritarian system, he believes, could be a good example for Spain to follow.

 

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