SPAIN'S general election re-run has benefited the PP, with Mariano Rajoy's party gaining 137 seats to the 123 it earned in December.
Meanwhile, Unidos Podemos' confidence it would overtake the PSOE has turned out to be misplaced – working as two separate parties last time around, as United Left and Podemos, they gained two and 69 seats respectively; this time, as a joint effort, they have won 71, leaving their position unchanged.
The PSOE remains the second-strongest political force with 85 seats, a drop of five on December's 90 and its worst result in history – although the PP's landslide victory in 2011, with 186 seats, wiping the floor with the PSOE and its 110, was at a time when they were the only parties in the political panorama aside from a handful of very small, regional nationalist outfits.
Centre-right Ciudadanos was very disappointed with its loss of eight seats, dropping from 40 in December to 32.
A total of 69.84% of eligible voters cast their ballot – slightly higher than December's 69.67%, and largely due to the 86.5% rise in postal votes, which totalled 1.3 million.
Again, no single party has earned a majority, or a large enough minority to be confident of breezing straight into power – of the 350 seats in Parliament, an outright win is 176.
Possible coalitions
Once more, even a multiple coalition would struggle to make up the numbers – for the PP to govern, its only likely partner is Ciudadanos, giving 166 seats; for the PP to be ousted, a PSOE-Unidos Podemos coalition would gain 156.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com