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Spain's right-wing PP wins in Galicia parliamentary elections, moderate PNV in Basque

Xinhua, September 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spain's right-wing People's Party (PP) and the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) Sunday won the regional parliamentary elections respectively in the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia and Basque.

PP candidate Alberto Nunez Feijoo was re-elected president of the regional parliament of Galicia, while PNV candidate Inigo Urkullu won the regional elections for Basque.

The elections at the two northern areas took place against the backdrop of a continued political stalemate in Madrid, which left the country without an effective central government after nine months. A new central government has to be formed by the end of October, otherwise Spain will return to the polls before the end of the year.

Feijoo became the only regional leader to have a majority government in Spain when the PP won 47.5 percent of the vote and 41 seats in the 75-seat Galician regional assembly. Left-wing party En Marea (which is linked to the Podemos party) won 19.05 percent of the vote and 14 seats, while the Socialist Party (PSOE) also claimed 14 seats, but with 17.89 percent of the vote and the Galician Nationalists (BNG) took 6 seats with 8.37 percent of the vote in the mainly rural and conservative region.

In the Basque Region, the PNV won 29 seats, two more than in 2012, while the radical nationalists of EH-Bildu ranked second with 17 seats and the left-wing Podemos claimed 11 seats.

The PSOE and PP won 9 seats each in the Basque country, although the PSOE claimed more votes than the PP to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the vote.

Meanwhile center-right party Ciudadanos had a disastrous night, failing to win a seat in either of the two regional assemblies.

While Feijoo was able to comfortably defend his majority in Galicia, the PSOE lost 4 seats in the region and 7 in Basque, ahead of its leader Pedro Sanchez's meeting with party leaders next weekend, as he tries to find support for the attempts of forming a coalition government. Endi