Analysis-Spain's Vox party stumbles, testing limits of European far-right advance

FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Spain's far-right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal await the election results, outside the Vox party headquarters, on the day of the general election, in Madrid, Spain, July 23, 2023. REUTERS/Vincent West/File Photo

MADRID/BERLIN (Reuters) - The far-right Vox party lost seats in Spain's elections on Sunday, staving off the prospect of a first hardline nationalist-backed government since General Francisco Franco's dictatorship and pointing to limitations in the European far-right's bid for the mainstream.

Polls had predicted a win for the centre-right People's Party (PP) with Vox as the likely kingmaker but they failed to win a majority, leaving Catalan and Basque pro-independence parties holding the balance of power in a hung parliament.