El escrutinio confirmó el recuento y los escaños de la coalición.

Not exactly. In election language, escrutinio usually means the official tabulation / canvass of the votes, while recuento is the count or tally.

So they are related, but not identical:

• recuento = the counting itself, or the resulting count
• escrutinio = the formal process that checks and establishes the official result

That is why both can appear in the same sentence.

It can be.

In general Spanish, escrutinio can mean close examination, which is closer to English scrutiny. But in political and electoral contexts, it very often means vote count, tabulation, or official canvass.

So in this sentence, you should not automatically read it as English scrutiny in the everyday sense of careful inspection.

Because it describes a completed action in the past: the official count confirmed something.

The preterite is very common for reporting finished events:

• confirmó = confirmed
• confirmaba would suggest was confirming / used to confirm / confirmed in an ongoing or background sense

Also, the accent matters:

• confirmó = he/she/it confirmed
• confirmo = I confirm

The subject is El escrutinio.

So the structure is:

• El escrutinio = subject
• confirmó = verb
• el recuento y los escaños de la coalición = what was confirmed

Because escrutinio is singular, the verb is singular too: confirmó.

Because these are the things being confirmed. They function as the verb’s objects.

Spanish often follows the same basic order as English here:

• subject + verb + object

So:

• El escrutinio → the official count
• confirmó → confirmed
• el recuento y los escaños de la coalición → the count and the coalition’s seats

Yes. Spanish can coordinate two objects with y, just like English.

Here the verb confirmó applies to both:

• el recuento
• los escaños de la coalición

So the idea is that the official tabulation confirmed both the tally and the coalition’s seat result.

Escaños means seats in a parliament, congress, or other legislative body.

It does not mean physical chairs here. It is a political term:

• obtener escaños = to win seats
• perder escaños = to lose seats

In Spain, this is the normal word for parliamentary seats.

Spanish often prefers de + noun instead of a possessive when it wants to be clear.

• los escaños de la coalición = the coalition’s seats
• sus escaños could mean his/her/its/their seats, so it can be ambiguous

Using de la coalición makes the owner completely explicit.

Most naturally, it describes only los escaños.

So the sentence is usually understood as:

• el recuento
• and los escaños de la coalición

This is because de la coalición comes right after los escaños, so that is the noun it most naturally attaches to.

If you wanted de la coalición to apply clearly to both nouns, Spanish would normally reword the sentence.

Because coalición is a feminine noun:

• la coalición

A useful pattern is that nouns ending in -ción are usually feminine:

• la nación
• la elección
• la coalición

So:

• de la coalición = of the coalition

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English does.

Here the articles show that the sentence is talking about specific, identifiable things:

• el escrutinio = the official count in question
• el recuento = the count/tally in question
• los escaños = the seats in question

In English, articles are also possible here, but Spanish tends to require them more consistently.

Sometimes, yes. Recuento can mean:

• count
• tally
• recount, depending on context

In this sentence, it most likely means the count/tally rather than a special recount after a dispute. The surrounding election vocabulary makes that reading the most natural.

Yes. The personal a is mainly used before specific human beings (and sometimes personified animals or groups).

Here the objects are things, not people:

• el recuento
• los escaños

So no a is used.

For example:

• Vi a Juan = I saw Juan
• Confirmó el recuento = It confirmed the count

Yes, Spanish word order is flexible, but the version given is the most neutral and natural.

For example, you could rearrange it for emphasis, but the original sentence is the clearest standard order:

• El escrutinio confirmó el recuento y los escaños de la coalición.

That straightforward order makes it easy to identify:

1. the subject
2. the verb
3. what was confirmed