The shit in Spain falls mainly in the fan

[Sheilbh]

Should have guessed - bad candidates and loads of infighting, the universal explanations for why the left underperforms

[celedhring]

The good news is that separatists have lost the election in my town - an independence party had been holding the council for the past 12 years.

Now if they removed the gigantic independence flag that presides the main road into town, I'd be grateful...

Generally, even though they may weirdly win Barcelona, this has been a bad night for them. They are down all over, and they have lost all the other large Catalan capitals (Girona they might still manage to get a coalition going, but it was a historic pro-indepedence bastion, and to see PSOE come first there is quite incredible). The party currently running the Catalan government - ERC - has had a truly awful night.

Overall in Spain we're having a bit of a conservative wave going, but I guess it was to be expected 

[Admiral Yi]

If centralism a opposed to regional autonomy skews right in Spain it makes sense that the national capital area would skew right.

[celedhring]

And the president has called a snap election. We're voting in 2 months.

Photo thread will be posted in due time. 

[celedhring]

Well, in the eleventh hour - like minutes before the vote - all non-indy parties in Barcelona (except the far right) have agreed to vote the socialist candidate, electing him mayor when everybody assumed the pro-indy parties would get elected (in Spain if there's no majority in a local government, the mayorship defaults to the largest minority). Every major pro-Indy politician (except Puigdemont, of course) was present at the Barcelona city hall to celebrate the "recovery of the capital". It was quite the scene.

Something similar happened 4 years ago, when Valls voted the far left non-indy candidate at the eleventh hour, when everybody assumed we'd get a minority pro-indy city council.

Of course not everything is good news. PP has been calmly closing deals with Vox in several regions and towns. As a result a bullfighter with pro-fascist social media posts will now be elected vice-president of the Valencia region, and regional minister of culture (        
   )

With a general election in a month, and a PP+Vox coalition looking very likely, this is not going to be fun time in Spain.

[Duque de Bragança]

Something similar happened 4 years ago, when Valls voted the far left non-indy candidate at the eleventh hour, when everybody assumed we'd get a minority pro-indy city council.

If you like so much Manuel Valls, you can keep it!   

[Sheilbh]

https://twitter.com/elnacionalcat/status/1683153284054372352?s=46&t=o9GOIj6BKKcLcHiyQTlAoA

[Tonitrus]

I didn't know there were Spanish politicians that support reunification with Italy.

[celedhring]

https://twitter.com/elnacionalcat/status/1683153284054372352?s=46&t=o9GOIj6BKKcLcHiyQTlAoA

Why are you reading tweets from El Nacional? 

[Iormlund]

This looks a lot closer than I thought.

[celedhring]

This looks a lot closer than I thought.

At 80% counted is looking like a hung parliament. No way the right wing parties get a majority at this point.

See you again on December for the repeat election!

[Iormlund]

That's what I wanted when I voted today.

So, mission accomplished, I guess.

[Sheilbh]

Nice. Good on Sanchez for a gamble that sort of paid off for the PSOE?

Edit: Also the PP crowd chanting for Ayuso is pretty striking.

[Hamilcar]

Soo... Sanchez stays PM? How does this work?

[celedhring]

Nice. Good on Sanchez for a gamble that sort of paid off for the PSOE?

Definitely, he looked like dead man walking a couple months ago and now he even has a chance to stay as president. That said, I think it's unlikely he'll be able to stitch a majority. Catalan pro-indy parties, which he needs, have been punished harshly by their voters for their role in propping up the Spanish government during this term - it's their worst result since 2008.

Soo... Sanchez stays PM? How does this work?

The usual. Parliament will get inaugurated in a month, and the King has to select the candidate with the largest support, who has to face a vote from parliament. If no candidate is able to get a majority, we'll go to a repeat election in december-january.