Spain experiences Brexit ripple effect

Advances bolster Popular Party leader’s ambition to form ‘grand coalition’

The public mood generally has shifted from exasperation to resignation, but the impact of a second impasse will be unpredictable

The most likely outcome remains new elections in June – and no major changes in the results

Eighty per cent of voters say the political situation is ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’

Peace dividend may follow for new government

Impasse points to another election in June

Discreet voices in Brussels are warning that continued instability threatens an economic recovery that pulled the country back from brink of collapse

Many Spaniards now accept that only a fresh and more open-ended vision of a common Iberian home can resolve the Catalan crisis

General election result retards gathering momentum towards state break-up

The challenge of coalition building will also be complicated by very differing attitudes to Catalan and Basque demands for independence

Conservative group needs support of other parties to earn another term, exit polls suggest

Ciudadanos, fiercely opposed to Catalan (and Basque) nationalism, may find common cause with the Partido Popular after all

Prime minister Mariano Rajoy to meet leaders of Ciudadanos and Podemos parties

Many try to reach Europe via highly policed Spanish territory of Melilla in north Africa

Spain keen to be seen as the ‘good student’ in the euro zone classroom

Austerity policies and claims of fraud have steered voters towards the new

Voters punish Mariano Rajoy’s party after four years of cuts and corruption scandals

Spanish party’s radical roots left behind as it signals less strident approach

Podemos wins 15 seats in regional poll as Socialists claim ‘historic’ win