PNV 'No' Means PP Cannot Form Gov't-PSOE Or Snap Elections Only Options

The centrist regionalist Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) released a statement late on 24 July stating that they had informed centre-right Popular Party (PP) head Alberto Núñez Feijóo that the PNV would not be negotiating with the PP to form a gov't following the 23 July election. The refusal of the PNV, as well as the single deputy from the Canarian Coalition, to work with the PP on account of the party looking set to form a gov't with the right-wing nationalist Vox effectively makes it impossible for the leader of the largest party in the Congress of Deputies to win an investiture vote.

• As a result, the only post-election scenarios possible now is a centre-left PSOE-led administration under incumbent PM Pedro Sanchez or snap elections.
• The formation of a Sanchez gov't is likely to prove rancorous and lengthy. It would require almost every minority party in the Congress of Deputies to back the PSOE in an investiture vote, assuming that all 169 deputies from the PP and Vox combined vote against Sanchez.