HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

Still in charge. Sánchez was already in power but was forced to call snap elections, the nation’s third contest in four years, after Parliament rejected his budget proposal in February. It was just the second time that a national budget was voted down — the first time was in 1995 — since the country transitioned to democracy in 1978. The PSOE was hoping to use the budget to increase social spending and reduce inequalities recently exacerbated by austerity policies. But the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties that helped put Sánchez in power abandoned him after he refused to consider another Catalonian independence referendum. The question of Catalonian independence is still top of mind in Spain after a 2017 referendum vote in favor of secession caused chaos in the country and saw the movement’s leaders put on trial for rebellion.

The backlash. Those who oppose Catalonian independence are angry too. Those voters are thought to have been behind the rise of Vox, which opposes any negotiating with secessionists (along with what it calls “radical feminism” and multiculturalism). The far-right has been absent from Spanish politics since the 1975 death of dictator Francisco Franco, but Vox — backed by other European far-right parties like Italy’s League — will enter Parliament for the first time with 24 seats after winning more than 10 percent of the vote.

A greener future? A week after its budget defeat, the PSOE changed tactics: It rolled out its own version of the U.S. Green New Deal, a $53 billion public investment plan that would tackle climate change. That includes a 90 percent reduction in emissions by the middle of this century and a total switch to renewable energy. Those plans gathered widespread support — a survey from the European Investment Bank last year found that 87 percent of Spaniards are alarmed about global warming and 70 percent believe climate change is a threat to humanity. Now with a minority government secured, PSOE is likely to form a coalition with far-left Unidas Podemos party and other smaller parties … an alliance that could see Spain become a world leader on climate change.

They persisted. Women won a record 138 seats in Parliament, a 10 percent uptick from the last record high in 2011. Left-wing party Unidas Podemos, born from street protests against crippling austerity measures eight years ago, secured the most seats for women — including Rita Bosaho, who’ll become the first Black member of Spain’s Parliament.

WHAT TO READ

To Make a Comeback, Europe’s Center-Left Is Leaning … More Left, by Giovanni Legorano in The Wall Street Journal
“Populists of the far left and the far right have made inroads among disillusioned voters with attacks on the establishment, accelerating the collapse of the traditional European center-left.”

Analysis: How Did Sunday’s Elections Change Spain’s Political Landscape? by Carlos E. Cue in El Pais
“It was a disastrous night for the right. The new leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, has led the party to the worst result in its entire history, well below even the most pessimistic forecasts.”

WHAT TO WATCH