Spaniards are not happy that their country is headed for its fourth election in four years. According to a recent poll in El Pais, more than 90 percent of respondents said they felt either disappointment, anger or worry at the prospect of another vote. But the parliament that was chosen in April still dissolved Monday at midnight after the leaders of its main parties were unable or unwilling to come to an arrangement that would allow one of them to form a government, triggering an election on Nov. 10.

While Sept. 23 was the final deadline for any sort of Hail Mary, it was clear the negotiations had already failed a week earlier, when King Felipe VI announced that he couldn’t put forward any candidate for an investiture vote in parliament, since the parties were deadlocked. Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party put the blame squarely on the three other main parties—the old-guard, conservative Popular Party and two recent upstarts, leftist Podemos and centrist Ciudadanos—for failing to support his candidacy. “I have tried by all means,” he said, “but they have made it impossible for us.” (read article)