CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT on April 28th, with the vote-count in the general election all but over, the scenes outside the headquarters of Spain's two main political parties said it all. "We've sent a message to Europe and the world...that you can defeat reaction [and] authoritarianism," Pedro Sánchez told a cheering crowd of several hundred activists from his Socialist party. A couple of kilometres away, barely a dozen people stood outside the offices of the conservative People's Party (PP) until workers dismantled, unused, an elaborate stage. Speaking inside to journalists, a dejected Pablo Casado, the PP's leader, admitted: "It's been a very bad result." Mr Sánchez led the Socialists to their first win (in the sense of taking the most seats, though still well short of a majority) since 2008, while the PP's very future, and certainly that of its leader, looks uncertain.
Back last May when he filed a censure motion that brought him to office and ended more than six years of PP rule under Mariano Rajoy, Mr Sánchez brushed off demands for an immediate election. With less than a quarter of the Congress, he governed for ten months through gestures-a big rise in the minimum wage, which employers say discourages job creation-and symbolic acts, such as a yet-to-be-fulfilled commitment to move the remains of General Franco, Spain's former dictator,...
The Economist: Europe
