Spain's President Pedro Sanchez "survived" his political duel with conservative People's Party (PP) leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo in the early general election on Sunday, and as no party emerged with a clear majority there is even the possibility that the Socialist leader could continue at the head of the same government.
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"The Spanish right thought it was going to finish Sanchez off, and while I wouldn't say Sanchez has emerged completely in good shape, he has survived this electoral tie and it's even possible Sanchez could repeat the government he has now," said Jose Ramon Pin, an emeritus professor at IESE business school.
Sanchez brought the general election forward from December to July after his Socialist Party's poor performance in the local and regional elections on May 28, while its main rival, the PP, made significant gains.
According to Pin, the result of Sunday's election, which saw a split Parliament emerge with no clear governing majority after Sanchez's Socialists won 122 seats and the PP won 136, shows that Sanchez's strategy to call a snap election was largely successful.
With neither of the two large parties gaining the 176 seats needed for an absolute majority in the country's Parliament, they will now have to look for support from smaller parties in the chamber, which will in return demand concessions.
"The two alternatives facing Spanish politicians is either to make a government with the same dynamic we have seen until now, of confrontation between two opposite sides of Spain, or to try to make a government of consensus," Pin said.
The fact that the Socialists and the PP gained similar levels of support from voters provides an unexpected opportunity to buck the trend in Spanish politics and seek a level of cooperation.
"I think the message from the Spanish voters in this election is that, as one half of the people think one thing and the other half think another, they are telling politicians to find a common ground. Yet, whether the political leaders and politicians will really listen and digest that message is debatable," Pin concluded.