Spain is facing its fourth election in as many years in November after acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez failed to assemble a parliamentary majority, in the latest example of how political fragmentation is making it harder to govern European democracies.
Spain’s royal palace said late Tuesday that King Felipe VI has decided not to nominate anyone to try to form a new government, because talks among party leaders had indicated no scope for a majority.
Snap elections will take place on Nov. 10 unless parties reach an 11th-hour deal before Monday’s deadline to elect a prime minister, a prospect seen as extremely unlikely.
Opinion polls suggest Mr. Sánchez’s Socialists are likely to emerge as the biggest party once again, but fall short of a majority in Parliament. Mr. Sánchez first became prime minister in June 2018, but he has been only an acting premier for much of this year.
Spain’s constitution requires a majority of lawmakers to approve a premier’s appointment. Mr. Sánchez struggled to win support from far-left and centrist lawmakers.
Throughout Europe, traditionally dominant center-left and center-right parties have lost many voters to upstart challengers, ranging from the anticapitalist far-left to the nativist far-right. Economic and migration crises of recent years have accelerated the trend.
In Spain, the existence of strong regional nationalist parties further complicates the formation of parliamentary majorities.
Since 2011, no national election in Spain has produced a conclusive result. There is little expectation that new elections will break the deadlock, roughly six months after previous votes produced a hung Parliament.
Mr. Sánchez tried to form a government with the far-left party Unidas Podemos, but he wasn’t willing to give the party as much influence as it wanted.
The latest opinion polls suggest the Socialists and their traditional rival, the center-right People’s Party, could both do somewhat better in new elections than they did in April, when they won 29% and 17% of votes, respectively.
“It seems that the result will be very similar to the one of April’s election, although it’s difficult to make forecasts as a lot will depend on turnout,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University.
Spain’s economy has continued to grow solidly and recover from the eurozone financial crisis. Gross domestic product is projected to grow 2.1% this year, according to the European Union, higher than overall eurozone growth of 1.2%.
However, the lack of a fully empowered government could take a toll eventually.
“In the shorter term, I don’t think it will have any impact. This is not to say that political inaction won’t have a price,” said Ángel Talavera, an economist at Oxford Economics. Spain needs to overhaul its pension system, labor market, education system and other areas, he said.
Write to Giovanni Legorano at giovanni.legorano@wsj.com
