Spain is facing further political deadlock after the country’s second general election in six months proved a near rerun of the December vote, leaving the conservative Partido Popular (PP) with the most votes but once again short of an overall majority.



Exit polls, which had suggested that the far-left Unidos Podemos coalition was on course to stage a historic breakthrough by pushing the socialist PSOE into third place, were thoroughly confounded as it became clear that the anticipated surge would not materialise.

Spanish election Spanish election

By the time the count was finished, the PP had increased its lead on last time, taking 137 seats on 33% of the vote, and strengthening the hand of its leader, acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy. The socialists came second with 85 seats, Unidos Podemos third with 71 seats, and the centrist Ciudadanos party fourth with 32.



Contrary to expectations, the results followed the pattern in December, when the PP won 123 seats, with 29% of the vote, the PSOE 90 seats with 22%, Podemos 69 seats and 21%, while Ciudadanos took 40 seats with 14%. But despite picking up an extra 14 seats, the PP was still unable to reach the 176 needed to secure a majority in the 350-seat congress of deputies.

Even so, as he appeared before a jubilant crowd waving Spanish flags and PP banners, Rajoy bounced up and down, saying he was “enormously proud of his party”, a party he had served since he was 22 when democracy had returned to Spain.

“This party has had courage, enthusiasm and determination,” he said. “There’s always been someone – winning or losing – with a Partido Popular flag … Dear friends, you have won the elections because you have had faith in victory and because you’ve pursued it.”

Podemos’s strong showing last December – finishing first in Catalonia, where it ran in a coalition with Barcelona en Comú, and the Basque country – had led its leader, Pablo Iglesias, to declare at the time that the era of PP and PSOE domination was over, saying: “Spain is not going to be the same any more and we are very happy.”



In the run-up to the vote, the party seemed to have capitalised on growing disenchantment with the traditional political behemoths as Spain emerges slowly from its economic crisis but still struggles with an unemployment rate of 21% and a youth unemployment rate of 45%. Its position has also been strengthened by the proliferation of corruption scandals that has tarnished the PP in recent years.

But despite the initial confidence provoked by two exit polls putting it comfortably in second place, Unidos Podemos came nowhere near the predicted sorpasso, or overtaking, of the PSOE. Its recent decision to run on a joint ticket with United Left (IU), the leftwing coalition that includes the Communist party of Spain, had not borne the expected fruit.

Speaking at a press conference as the final results came in, Iglesias was subdued as he acknowledged that his party had fallen well short of expectations. “There’s no doubt that what we have done over the past two years has been historic and unprecedented in the history of our country,” he said. “But it’s also true that we were expecting different results tonight. We’re worried to see that the Partido Popular and its conservative allies have increased their support.”

Proffering an olive branch to the socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, he added: “It’s time to reflect and, of course, it’s time to focus on dialogue between the progressive political forces.”

But Sánchez, whose attempts to form a coalition government earlier this year were thwarted by Podemos, was exultant rather than emollient after his party had seen off its rivals. “They had the chance to vote for a progressive government led by the socialist party,” he said. “It was within their power to put an end to the government of Mariano Rajoy that has done so much damage to the middle and working classes with its cuts and its policies.”

Instead, he said, they had put “intransigence and personal interest” before the political needs of the left. Sánchez went on: “Despite the extraordinary difficulties that we’ve had to overcome in the socialist party, despite the predictions that persistently declared a strong decline for the party and the loss of our relevance to the collective life of our country, the socialist party has once again reaffirmed its position as the hegemonic party of the left.”

Albert Rivera, the Ciudadanos leader, opted for a more low-key approach, blaming Spain’s electoral system for his party taking eight fewer seats than last time, adding that he wasn’t going to declare it a historic night or claim that everything had gone wonderfully.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s acting prime minister, casts his vote. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

But he said the support Ciudadanos had received had proved an important point: “In spite of everything, in spite of the low participation and our electoral law, in spite of the polarisation, 13% of Spaniards – more than 3 million people – have said that the centre exists and that the centre is here to stay.”

Rivera also said he was ready for immediate talks with Rajoy on forming a government. While a PP-Ciudadanos alliance would still be seven seats off a majority, additional ones could be drummed up from regional parties. Alternatively, the PP could seek to form a “grand coalition” with the socialists, although this is unlikely as Sánchez has steadfastly refused such a pact as long as Rajoy heads the conservative party.

The repeat election was the first major European poll since the UK vote to leave the EU sent shockwaves around the continent and wiped more than $2tn of value from markets around the world on Friday. Although a poll published late on Saturday night showed voters sticking to their pre-Brexit preferences, some – not least the leaders of the big four parties – had predicted that the UK referendum would have an impact.



The vote had also been overshadowed by the latest PP scandal. The acting interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, has been facing calls to resign since Tuesday, when leaked recordings emerged in which he and the head of Catalonia’s anti-fraud office, Daniel de Alfonso, appear to discuss the possibility of using investigations to smear pro-independence rivals in the region.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters of left-wing party Podemos check the first exit poll on a mobile phone. Photograph: Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images

The 36.5 million Spaniards eligible to vote returned to the polls after the 20 December election failed to yield a clear winner, tipping the country into six messy months of squabbling, sniping and horsetrading that have tested the patience of the Spanish public and exacerbated the personal and ideological differences between party leaders. More now looks set to follow.



The failure of any party to win an outright majority had left Rajoy’s party acting as a caretaker government during months of often bad-tempered negotiations. In January, Rajoy told King Felipe VI that the PP did not have sufficient support to offer a minority or coalition government.



Sánchez tried to pull together a government with Ciudadanos in March and to assemble a leftist coalition the following month, but neither initiative secured the necessary support.



At the beginning of May, the king signed a decree dissolving parliament and fixing a date for new elections. The ensuing months of uncertainty and bickering have not always gone down well with voters.

Some of those heading to polling stations on Sunday felt badly let down. “I’m disappointed,” Sonia Hontoria, a 35-year-old administrative clerk told Reuters, adding that she would leave her vote blank. “The people voted in December for a greater range of parties and in the end all the politicians wanted was an absolute majority and they were unable to respond to what the people wanted.”

But Carlos Martínez, a retired clerk who cast his ballot for Unidos Podemos in the Arganzuela neighbourhood in Madrid, was adamant that the party offered the prospect of real change. “This is a crucial time for the left,” he told Reuters. “Our time has come.”