Ciudadanos

Spain’s king is meeting Monday and Tuesday with the country’s political parties following four months of political paralysis in a last-ditch effort to install a government and avoid sending voters back to the ballot box.

The Socialists’ habit of running from the left and governing from the center is not a formula that will work anymore in Spain.

Spain entered a governing void Monday, facing weeks or months of uncertainty over what political party or parties will lead the country following a national election that fragmented the status quo. The result was so blurred that a German government spokeswoman said it was impossible to determine who deserved congratulations.

Spain’s political landscape has changed dramatically since 2011, when voters ousted the Socialist Party and gave a landslide victory to the right-of-center Popular Party.