Spain stays to the left

PRIME Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists have won Spain’s national election but large gains by the upstart farright Vox party appear certain to widen the political deadlock in the European Union’s fifthlargest economy.

After a fourth national ballot in as many years, the leftwing Socialists held on as the leading power. With 99.9 per cent of the votes counted, the Socialists captured 120 seats, down three from the last election in April and still far from the majority of 176 needed to form a government alone.