The Socialist Workers’ Party looks set to win the most seats at the forthcoming Spanish election, but alarming indications suggest the far-right Vox party will double their representation in the Spanish parliament.
As reported in Spanish newspaper El Pais, polls conducted by 40Db show an increased vote share for the conservative People’s Party and Vox, with Podemos and Ciudadanos set to lose votes.
The forecasts suggest that while the Socialist Workers’ Party and the incumbent Pedro Sánchez will win the election, their share of seats will be cut marginally to around 121 from their current 123. The People’s Party will increase their share of seats to 91 from 66 while centre-right Ciudadanos are expected to be devastated, seeing their share of parliament cut from 57 down to 14.
The polls suggest that Vox will win around 46 seats, up from 24.
The far-right Vox stand on a platform strongly against Catalan independence, immigration, Islam, gay rights and feminism. Vox is anti-abortion and favours a return to a ban in the country. The party is also strongly pro-Israel and supports the return of Gibraltar to Spanish rule, despite the wishes of the people.
The increase in support for Vox is being seen as a unionist and royalist backlash against the Catalan independence movement and Pedro Sanchez’s decision to remove former dictator Francisco Franco from from the Valle de los Caídos.
The forthcoming election is the second Spanish general election this year. In April, fears of a People’s Party/Vox coalition were quelled when Sanchez and the socialists retained power with an increased majority, receiving 28.68% of the vote compared to 22.63% in 2016, the People’s Party collapsing and falling from 33.01% of the vote to just 16.70%.
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