The parliament that emerged from the national election held in Spain this Sunday and which will begin a new term on August 17 will be the closest thing to a political labyrinth.

Together, the two right-wing parties did not win enough seats to form an absolute majority (for which 176 seats are needed), and the possibility that the Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox could make pacts with other parties to reach it can be completely ruled out given Vox’s unwillingness to work nationalist formations.

The left-wing bloc that has carried Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government for the past four years did not win the necessary 176 seats either. For the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Sumar (a grouping of 15 small leftist parties) to form a new coalition government, they would have to come to some kind of agreement with Junts, a Catalan nationalist party.