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Spanish election results: Socialists win most seats, PP and Vox make huge gains, C’s collapse

With 98 percent of the vote counted, the results show the PSOE drop three seats but remain the largest party while the PP and Vox both make great gains.

Published: 10 November 2019 20:32 CET
Updated: 10 November 2019 22:45 CET

Spanish election results: Socialists win most seats, PP and Vox make huge gains, C's collapse

The results with 96 percent of the vote counted.

With 98 percent of the vote counted, the Socialist Party has won 120 seats, the Popular Party 88, Vox 53, Podemos 35 and Ciudadanos 10.

It means the Socialists will still be the largest party but yet again far short of an absolute majority and without enough seats even with the support of Podemos to meet 176 seats in the 350 seat parliament.

The PP have bounced back from the 66 won in April in what was the worst result for the party in its history and have won 85 seats. Meanwhile support for Vox has surged with the party doubling the number of MPs who will enter parliament from the 24 in April to 50 seats, leapfrogging Santiago Abascal's party over Ciudadanos and Podemos to become the third largest.

It's a devastating result for Ciudadanos who see their number of seats cut from 57 to 10.

While parties supporting independence for Catalonia won 13 seats.

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No block, either through a pact of left wing parties or of those in the right, looked able to secure the absolute majority required to form a government.

The last election produced a near-record 76 percent turnout, which helped Sanchez who had mobilised left-leaning voters to oppose Vox.

But participation dropped by a massive 8 points this time round.

READ ALSO: What do the election results mean for Spain?

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German Greens' chancellor candidate Baerbock targeted by fake news

The Greens chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock on April 26th. Photo: DPA

From wild claims about CO2-emitting cats and dogs to George Soros photo collages, 40-year-old Annalena Baerbock has been the subject of a dizzying array of fake news, conspiracy theories and online attacks since she was announced as the Greens’ chancellor candidate in mid-April.

The latest polls have the Greens either ahead of or level with Merkel’s ruling conservatives, as the once fringe party further establishes itself as a leading electoral force in Europe’s biggest economy.

Baerbock herself also consistently polls higher than her conservative and centre-left rivals in the race to succeed Merkel, who will leave office after 16 years this autumn.

Yet her popularity has also brought about unwanted attention and a glut of fake news stories aimed at discrediting Baerbock as she bids to become Germany’s first Green chancellor.

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False claims

Among the false stories circulating about Baerbock is the bizarre claim that she wants to ban household pets in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Another fake story firmly denied by the party claimed that she defied rules on mask-wearing and social-distancing by embracing colleagues upon her nomination earlier this month.

Baerbock has also been presented as a “model student” of Hungarian billionaire George Soros – a hate figure for the European far-right and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists – in a mocked-up social media graphic shared among others by a far-right MP.

More serious online attacks include a purported photo of Baerbock which in fact shows a similar-looking naked model.

The Greens’ campaign manager Michael Kellner said that the attempts to discredit Baerbock had “taken on a new dimension”, that “women are targeted more heavily by online attacks than men, and that is also true of our candidate”.

Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock earlier this month. Photo: DPA

Other false claims about the party include reports of a proposed ban on barbecues, as well as plans to disarm the police and enforce the teaching of the Quran in schools.

While such reports are patently absurd, they are potentially damaging to Baerbock and her party as they bid to spring a surprise victory in September.

“She has a very real chance, but the coming weeks are going to be very important because Baerbock’s public image is still taking shape,” Thorsten Faas, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University told AFP.

In a bid to fight back against the flood of false information, the party has launched a new “online fire service” to report fake news stories.

READ ALSO: Greens become ‘most popular political party’ in Germany

Russian disinformation

Yet stemming the tide is no easy job, with many of those who peddle disinformation now using private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram rather than public platforms such as Facebook.

The pandemic and ongoing restrictions on public life will also make it harder for the campaign to push through their own narratives at public events.

Miro Dittrich of Germany’s Amadeu-Antonio anti-racism foundation claims that lockdown has “played a role” in the spread of fake news.

“People are isolated from their social environment and are spending a lot more time online,” he said.

Another factor is Russia, which has made Germany a primary target of its efforts to spread disinformation in Europe.

According to the European anti-disinformation platform EUvsDisinfo, Germany has been the target of 700 Russian disinformation cases since 2015, compared to 300 aimed at France and 170 at Italy.

As an outspoken critic of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, Baerbock may well become a target of such attacks during the election campaign.

By Mathieu FOULKES

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