A year ago, Spain was the only large country on the continent without a far-right group sitting in parliament. However, two back-to-back elections this year have changed the scenario and mathematics of Spanish parliamentary politics.

The result of last Sunday's election was not much difference from that of a similar exercise in April. On both occasions, none of the mainstream parties gained an absolute majority.

However, there is one major difference, as the far-right Vox party doubled its seats from 24 to 52, and became the third largest elected entity in the lower house.

The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) gained 120 seats to lead the way, ahead of the conservative People's Party (PP) with 88 seats. The anti-austerity Unidas Podemos came fourth with 35 seats. The big loser was the center-right Citizens party that fell from 57 to 10 seats.

The final tally shows no party can form the government on its own in a parliament of 350 members.

The latest elections were the fourth in as many years. The impact of the unending "Game of Thrones" is obvious, as the turnout dropped from 75.5% in April to 69.9%. The people have lost appetite for elections and their frustration is increasing.

Such an environment is ideal for inflaming narrow nationalistic sentiments. Far-right parties like Vox often make the best use of such feelings by offering a moribund yet attractive narrative defining every problem in jingoistic terms.

As Spain embarks on the slippery path of hyper-nationalism, its quest for a stable political system may not be possible in the near future. The fractured mandate by the voters have created a difficult governance situation.

Failure to form a stable government will further squeeze space for the traditional parties because extremist views get more currency in such an environment. Such a development is dangerous as, already, the country faces secessionist threats (from Basques and Catalans).

It is not just Spain which is under the shadow of a far-right takeover. Already the dusty nationalistic winds unleashed by a political storm have scattered enough dust over the rest of Europe.

The Vox's victory has been greeted by other cohorts in the region, including Martine Le Pen of France, Matteo Salvini of Italy and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands. They all have cause to be jubilant; unfortunately, such a cause is quite scary as it is based on the politics of division and hatred.

Populist and ultra-right politics is getting popular not just in Europe, but also elsewhere. However, it is particularly weird to see it taking hold of Europeans who suffered a lot due to such politics in the 20th century that led to numerous millions dying in the world wars.

I think part of the problem is that the untainted political liberalism and market economy have encouraged the common people to feel let down. After the remarkable rise in their income during the second half of the 20th century, an era of stagnancy then followed.

Common people feel they are not earning as much as the top elite and the gap is widening. As people suffer at their dinner tables, they show their anger at the polling stations.

In Spain, unemployment is rising, while its growth estimate for 2019 according to the European Commission was supposed to be a drop from 2.3% to 1.9%. Similar trends are expected to continue through 2020.

In their suffering, voters often tend to buy the tailor-made solutions. If a political party tells them that they are getting poor due to immigrants and if foreigners are stopped from stealing "our share of wealth, we will get rich again," then chances are that people will respond to such a call.

The people of Spain are also falling for such xenophobic propaganda. The problem is that such politics will not solve any of the problems. It will only stifle the political environment and add to the uncertainty by creating fear.

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.h5a3.com/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

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