During historical parliamentary elections in Spain, for the first time since 1977 - the year in which the first democratic parliamentary elections were held in Spain since 1936 - the two-party system has been broken. Both the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP), led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as well has the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) lost major support, going down from 45% and 28,8% to 28,7% and 22% respectively. Newcomers Podemos, a populist socialist party, and Ciudadanos, a liberal party dealt a blow to the political establishment by securing third and fourth places, winning 20,7% of the vote and 13,9% of the vote. As a result of the election, the PP lost its absolute majority in the Parliament. Coalition talks have to be pursued now, which could prove to be difficult, as either a grand coalition between the two mainstream parties PP and PSOE would have to be forged - which never happened - or a broader coalition which would either include several regional parties or the PSOE, CiU and Podemos combined. 

The elections took place in Spain, as it is still struggling to recover from the Euro crisis. About a half of the young people are still unemployed and the general unemployment level is still over 20%. While unemployment levels are dropping now, and Spain is experiencing economic growth again, the political instability could potentially threaten the economic recovery. On the other hand, it has broken the dominant two-party system, giving people more choice when it comes to voting.

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For a graphic overview of the elections results, click here.

For economic facts and figures on the economy of Spain, click here and here.