The hard-right Vox could be in Spain’s next government

UNLESS THEPPPPPP polls are very wrong, Spain’s opposition centre-right People’s Party () will come first in the election on July 23rd, comfortably ahead of the governing Socialists. Vying for third and fourth are Vox (to the ’s right) and Sumar (to the Socialists’ left). Minnows—mostly regional parties, including some separatist ones—will make up the rest.This leaves Spain facing two possible coalition governments. The Socialists (under Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister) and Sumar hope to form a minority government resembling the current one. But to do so they would need the help of many of the minnows and separatists, which would entail awkward compromises and potential instability. The more likely scenario is a government with the support of Vox. That would mean Spain’s first government since the end of General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975 to include the hard right—a prospect that would worry many, both within the country and outside it.