Spain's electoral earthquake triggers political uncertainty

SPAIN'S general election last Sunday has ended the long-running political duopoly of the People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) that has dominated the country since the late 1970s.

Although the ruling right-of-centre PP has emerged again as the largest party, it is more than 50 seats from a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and there has been a potential electoral breakthrough for two "new parties" - the anti-austerity Podemos which finished a strong third with over 20 per cent of the vote, and the centrist Ciudadanos which came fourth.

The combined vote of the PP and PSOE, which was 84 per cent of the ballot in the 2008 general election, fell to around 50 per cent. Filling this political vacuum are Podemos and Ciudadanos whose rise has been fuelled by popular anger over political scandals, the fallout from the deepest economic recession in the country in recent years, and also the growing political clamour for independence in Catalonia.