The outcome of Spain's recent general election has plunged national politics into uncertainty. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) is the winner. But it is well short of a majority and it needs allies to rule in a country with little experience of coalition politics.
In the heyday of Felipe González, arguably the chief architect of Spain’s democratic consolidation, an accommodation would have been sought with the nearest moderate rival. But this is not the way of the current head of PSOE, the brash Pedro Sánchez. The relative newcomer on the liberal centre, Ciudadanos (Citizens), was spurned. It looks as if PSOE will prefer to dabble in culture wars and exploit civil war memories for narrow advantage, stances that contributed to keeping it out of office for much of the time following the retirement of González.
