It’s a Spain split in half the one that today goes to the polls for the renewal of General Courts (Il Parlamento), divided into the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. There are almost 37.5 million citizens called to vote from 9 to 20 in this round of early electionswhile it was possible to ask to vote by post until 13 July. The institutional architecture Spanish provides a imperfect bicameralismso the crucial result will be that of the first of the two Rooms. In total, 350 deputies are elected, with an absolute majority set at 176.
The country goes to the vote 5 months in advance of the natural deadline by decision of the prime minister Pedro Sanchez the day after finished administrative male for parties of government e in particular just for We can. The right-wing block formed by people’s party it’s yes Vox, given the advantage, aims to transform these elections into a referendum against ‘Sanchismo’. Their goal is to archive the wayin their opinion, ‘Caesarist’ and cynical of governing Pedro Sánchezaccused of having allied with i radicals Basques Of collectdefined as “the political arm of the And”, in order to retain power. So they promise to “reunite the country” by repealing the most divisive reforms approved in the last legislature: from the “law of memory” against Francoist crimes to that on sex reassignment, from the law for the home to that which allows euthanasia.
Read Also
The writer Victoria Amelina died after the Russian raid on Kramatorsk: she was 37 years old
The leftinstead, he aims to mobilize his base with two strong messages e tied up among them: the first, we must go on, with the Spain better, with his allovernocontinuing the path of social and economic reforms that brought the Spain to be the country with the growth of Pil most important in Europewith inflation below 2%, attentive to the rights of women, of the LGBTI+ community and at the forefront of renewables, of the ecological transition. The second message on which the Psoe e summer (the new subject founded by the Minister of Labor Yolanda Dìaz, which makes its debut today and which brings together Podemos and the most leftist acronyms of the socialists) aim a lot is to raise the alarm on the danger “fascist“, on the risk that the post-Franco far right of Vox can return to government for the first time in the history of democracy Spanish after the end of the dictatorship. The first moves of some local Vox administrators were very impressive: they censored a film from Disneya work by Virginia Woolf and denied gender-based violence, declassifying it as “violence between family members”. Some of them did not pay tribute to the victims of femicide. “At stake is not an alternation in government, but ours democracy. Let’s avoid that Spain you enter a dark tunnel”, he repeats Sanchez for days. Two opposing, incompatible linesas it clearly emerged during the TV duel between Sanchez e Feojòo: their continuous reproach of their respective allies, their talking on the voice without listening to each other seems the best metaphor of a country absolutely divided in two.
The polls – For i surveysthe right he is ahead. Without a breakthrough, a glaring surprise in the last few days, Pp-Voice they seem destined to have the majority of seats a the courts. Before the duel, it seemed that Sanchez was launched into a clamorous comebackbut the face to face, won by the leader Pp, seems to have reversed that trend. However, having the majority with Vox does not mean that that the premiership of Feijòo it will be obvious. It is true that in many local communities the right-wing alliance, despite controversies and rifts, is moving forward. Not by chance the leader popular he is talking little about Vox and, indeed, is asking for a “useful” vote, reiterating that the only guarantee is not to have Abascal in government is to vote Pp. It is practically impossible that the Pp can have an absolute majority, but their goal is to obtain more seats than those obtained by the whole left. At that point the Pp hopes to force, on paper, Vox to an agreement. But they are all hypotheses. What is certain is that in the party of Abascal a hard, intransigent wing is emerging, not very inclined to mediation, indeed ready to up the ante in any negotiations for the new executive. On the front of plan dice no to abortion, no to gay marriage. And many of his proposals are openly unconstitutional. For example, Vox he asks for “the immediate return to the State of powers in matters of Education, Health, Security and Justice” by limiting “as much as possible the legislative capacity of the autonomous communities”, while article 2 of the Constitution “recognizes and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions that make up the Spanish Nation”. Finally, on the possible government team, Feijòo has already set very clear stakes: “If I were to go into government, I would only appoint ministers who have the utmost preparation and zero sectarianism. None of them will be against the EU, NATO and Ukraine”. Words that irritated Abascal: “We don’t do blackmail, but we don’t want to suffer it either”.
Read Also
Sibora Gagani, belongs to the girl who disappeared in 2014 the body found walled up in an apartment in Spain
THE PARTIES: the socialists – Il Psoe Of Pedro Sanchez aims to move forward, advance, continue another 4 years along the road already trodden by its executive. In some videos, the socialist party teased the challenger, the popular leader Alberto Feijoo, due to the fact that he can’t speak English. “Non-English speakers should be disqualified from the race to become prime minister,” he commented Javier Cercas a The country. Then many posts on social media dedicated to the party’s support for the community Lgbti+to recall that the PSOE fights for women’s rights at work, for equality, against gender-based violence.
Popular – Il people’s party Of Alberto Nuñez Feijoo bets that the “time” to change has come. But at the beginning of the campaign, the People’s Party staked everything on the proposal to transform this electoral period into a “blue summer”, the color of the Pp. A phrase that is also the title of one hit spanish tv series of the 80s, set in a seaside resort, but the authors of that drama have distrusted the Pp from using it. Even Sanchez joked about this campaign: “It’s the story of a group of hippies who fight against building speculation. Something that is very far from the ideology of the right”.
Vox – The campaign of Voxa far-right party, has been very centered on street ralliesvery participatory, such as that of Valenciawhen surprisingly it connected Georgia Melons. Its slogan summarizes the party’s programme Santiago Abascal: talk about the real problems of the Spaniards, the safety of citizens put at risk by irregular migrants, the protection of the Spanish cultural and linguistic identity against the choices of local communities. A maxi sign has caused a sensation by becoming a symbol. Under the inscription “Decide what matters”, it showed a hand, with a bracelet in the colors of the Spanish flag on its wrist, throwing some symbols into a basket such as a flag with a hammer and sickle, the estelada, the Catalan independence flag, the logo of sustainable development, the circle with the words agenda 2030, a brand of the feminist movement and the flag with the colors of the rainbow, historical symbol of the LGBTI+ community.
summer – And the coalition which brings together over 13 forces of the left led by Yolanda Diaz, and is making its debut in a national election. For the whole election campaign, the Minister of Labor and Vice-President praised women’s rights, the ecological transition, and the reforms, starting with the one on the labor market, which she has carried out herself in recent years. A text that fought against precariousness and which, according to Diaz, has improved the conditions of many Spanish workers.
Read Also
Ciudadanos dies in the centre, Sumar is born on the left: how politics is changing in Spain 2 months after the vote (and why Podemos is in crisis)
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM – It’s a proportional without preferences, with blocked lists. The so-called method is applied D’Hondtwhich provides for the assignment of seats between parties in 52 constituencies (generally corresponding to the provinces), based on a complex mathematical formula. Everything is fine constituency elects a minimum of two deputies, while the remaining seats are assigned in proportion to the population. Only one threshold is foreseen, only in the single constituency, set at 3%. Such an electoral system causes a different weight in terms of votes needed to obtain a seat according to the territories: according to various estimates, in 2019 the average for the election of a deputy from Madrid was over 90 thousand votes, while in the depopulated province of Teruel less than 25 thousand were enough. A mechanism from which they tend to profit in particular traditional formations, Popular Party and Socialist Party. To interpret the final results, therefore two interpretations may be useful: the outcome of the vote in provinces with low population density, where only two or three parties have a chance of winning seatsand the particular specific weight of the districts in which parties with large territorial electoral bases compete, such as the Catalan or Basque separatists, often also crucial for keeping national governments in balance.