In the Spanish election Podemos did not overtake the socialist party (PSOE) and instead the conservative Partido Popular (PP) marginally increased their share of the vote, although once again no party is in a position to form a government.
Exit polls, which had suggested that the radical left Unidos Podemos coalition was on course to stage a historic breakthrough by pushing the socialist PSOE into third place, were wrong and the anticipated surge in their support did not materialise.
By the time the count was finished, the PP had increased its lead on last time, taking 137 seats on 33% of the vote, and strengthening the hand of its leader, acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy. The socialists came second with 85 seats, Unidos Podemos third with 71 seats, and the centrist Ciudadanos party fourth with 32.
The general pattern of European politics seems to that it is the left that is becoming most fragmented as traditional social democracy unravels, and that even in countries where (unlike in Spain) the radical the right are growing it is nevertheless the left that bleeds support.
