Spain’s Basques, Galicians vote in key regional polls

MADRID: Spain’s Basque country and Galicia go to the polls on Sunday in regional elections that may help unblock the long-lasting national political paralysis.

The country is stuck in limbo, run by a government without full powers following two inconclusive elections which the conservative Popular Party (PP) won without an absolute majority, and which have seen parties unable to reach any coalition deal.

As such, mainstream parties will be watching the regional elections closely to see if they lose ground to upstarts or nationalist groupings, and none more so than the Socialist party (PSOE) which polls say will fare badly.

A poor showing may prompt the party’s dissenting “barons”, or regional presidents, to push party leader Pedro Sanchez out.

“If we don’t have a good score, they will use that to try to overthrow Pedro Sanchez,” a source close to the Socialist leader, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Sanchez is unpopular among many “barons” who think the party should help put an end to Spain’s nine-month deadlock by admitting defeat, allowing a right-wing coalition government led by acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to come to power. Sanchez, however, refuses to do so. The PSOE voted against a Rajoy-led government in a parliamentary vote of confidence earlier this month, and is attempting to negotiate a left-wing, coalition alternative with arch-rival Podemos, the far-left party.

But a poor showing could put an end to this, either forcing him out or pressuring him into allowing the right-wing coalition government through by abstaining in another vote of confidence.

The country is stuck in limbo, run by a government without full powers following two inconclusive elections and which have seen parties unable to reach any coalition deal.