MADRID, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Elections this Sunday for the regional parliaments in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Basque Region and Galicia is a vote which will not only affect the political future of the two northern areas of Spain, but could also be highly significant for the future of Spain as a whole.
The elections take place against the backdrop of the continued political stalemate in Madrid which has left Spain without an effective central government after nine months, and two general elections and a possible third in the cards before the end of 2016, as the leaders of the country's main parties fail to reach an agreement for the formation of a coalition or even a minority government.
Sunday may or not change that situation with the right-wing People's Party (PP) candidate Albert Nunez Feijoo predicted to win an overall majority in the conservative and rural region of Galicia, while the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) is expected to win the most seats in the Basque Region.
Polls show the PNV will have to form a coalition government and the issue with this is whether they will look to pact with the more radical EH Bildu or Podemos, who are neck and neck for second place, or the Socialist Party (PSOE).
The Socialists appear to be facing heavy losses in both Galicia and the Basque Region with left-wing party Podemos gaining strength and that could have serious consequences for PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez.
Sanchez said on Thursday he wanted to try and form a "progressive" government and has called a meeting of his party's central committee for Oct. 1.
However, he faces divisions inside his own part as well as the problem that the PSOE has only 85 seats in the 350-seat Congress. Podemos are open to talks.
Nevertheless, relations between Sanchez and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias are not good and even if the two parties were able to reach agreement, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera has already said he would not support a PSOE-Podemos government.
That would leave Sanchez needing to negotiate with Catalan and Basque nationalists, something many in his party, such as Susana Diaz, the leader of the party in its southern stronghold of Andalusia, oppose.
Poor results for the PSOE on Sunday would see internal opposition to Sanchez increase and he may be left with little alternative than to allow a PP-Ciudadanos minority government in order to avoid potentially disastrous results in a third general election.
Meanwhile, Mariano Rajoy would consider the PP's position to be strengthened by victory in Galicia and may be tempted to hold on for a third general election in a year rather than try to form a minority government which would limit his actions as prime minister.
A new central government has to be formed by the end of October otherwise Spain will return to the polls before the end of the year, Sunday's regional votes could determine whether or not that happens.
