PP wins the elections--Rajoy is Prime Minister

20 Nov 2011

20-N has finally come! Election Day in Spain!

As was expected, the conservative Partido Popular (PP) won the most number of seats in the Spanish Congress--making Rajoy the new Prime Minister of Spain. PP won 186 seats in the Congress while PSOE only won 110 seats. This gives the PP a very definite majority--which will mean that they will have fewer issues setting policy.

Rajoy's primary concern as Prime Minister is the state of the economy in Spain--especially given that Spain has an unemployment rate of 21.5%. As Rajoy stated, "My enemies are: unemployment, the deficit, and excessive debt." His first act as Prime Minister is to meet with representatives of all of the Autonomous Communities in order to discuss a plan to fix the current economic situation. 

Rajoy realizes the enormous responsibility that he is going to have and the faith that Spaniards are placing in him. He stated, "Estamos ante una hora decisiva de España. Ante uno de esos cruces de caminos que determinarán el futuro de nuestro país no ya en los próximos años, sino en las próximas décadas." (We're at a decisive hour in Spain. Before one of those crossroads that will determine the future of our country not just in the next few years, but in the next few decades.)

He also very clearly and realistically stated, "No va a haber milagros, no los hemos prometido." (They aren't going to be miracles. We haven't promised them.)

You can read a bit more about the election (in English) here (in Spanish) here.

Approximately 75% of eligible voters went out to vote today. However, around 646,000 Spaniards turned in blank ballots. When calculated, the number of blank ballots accounts for 2.66% of the vote--making it the 6th most voted option.

The 7th most voted option came as a bit of a surprise. The new pro-Basque independence group, Amaiur, won 7 seats--giving the group more seats than the Basque Nationalist Party (who won 5 seats).