Spanish Socialists lose seat, after expat vote count, making it harder to form government
By Graham Keeley
BARCELONA (Reuters) -Spain's Socialists have emerged with one seat fewer after counts of votes from abroad in last week's election, making it harder for them to be able to form a left-wing coalition as they would need the support of hardline Catalan separatists rather than just their abstention, analysts told Reuters on Saturday.
In Sunday's close-fought election, neither the left or right blocs won enough seats to form a majority and Catalan separatist parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Junts emerged as kingmakers, both controlling seven seats each.
Esquerra is seen as likely to back Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez but with the fresh seat count — confirmed on Saturday evening by the electoral commission — it appears that Junts, the more hardline of the Catalan parties, would also have to actively support him for him to be able to form a government.
Sanchez called last week's election early after left-wing parties were battered in local and regional elections in May, hoping to catch the opposition off guard. The left emerged stronger than opinion polls had predicted but Sanchez, now in a caretaker role, faces an uphill task forming a government.
Counting of votes from over 233,000 Spaniards living abroad handed one seat in Madrid to the PP that had been awarded to the Socialists in the initial vote count, electoral authorities said.
To form a government, an absolute majority of 176 votes is needed in a parliamentary vote in the 350-seat Congress. If neither bloc is able to secure that, there is a second vote in parliament and the side with the most votes wins by a simple majority.
According to the revised seat count, the PP could muster a total 171 votes, including 137 of its
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