Albert Rivera is emerging as the clear winner from Spain’s political deadlock

Spain’s anti-austerity party, Podemos, has announced that it will hold a grassroots referendum among its supporters to determine whether to back a proposed coalition led by the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). Should this last attempt to reach an agreement fail, it is expected that new elections will be held in the summer. Benito Cao writes on the key obstacles that have prevented a deal being reached until this point and assesses how new elections may play out for each of the main four parties.