¡Voto Plus Ultra 2: Boogaloo Eléctrico!(Spanish Election)
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 5:32 pmHere we go again...
The April 28 election ended in absolute deadlock. Although the PSOE got a respectable lead, they and their traditional rivals, PP, were stunted by the growth of C's on the right and Unidos Podemos on the left. The only way a governing coalition could form was between PSOE and Podemos..and that was the start of the mess. Negotiations dragged on for months because, while Podemos and its leader, Pablo Iglesias, wanted a full-fledged coalition with 4-6 seats in the cabinet, PSOE and the current Spanish Government President(Spain's title for PM), Pedro Sanchez, wanted a mere C&S agreement with Podemos. Neither side would give way, so Spainards now have to go back to the polls on Sunday, November 10, to settle this whole mess. Polls have shown that Spainards are tired of the infighting with PSOE and PP both rising in the polls while Podemos has slumped and C's has gone down by several points. Meanwhile, the right-populist Vox is slowly recovering from collapsed numbers back in the late spring, but they still aren't likely to gain seats. Meanwhile, Podemos co-founder Inigo Errejon has turned his regional Mas Madrid party into the national Mas Pais(More Country) by merging it with the Valencian-interest CC, Aragonian-interest CHA, and Equo, a fledgling green party that used to be part of Unidas Podemos, leading to Podemos defections and a further split vote.
The Congress has 350 seats, 348 of which are decided using closed-list PR with D'Hondt counts and a 3% threshold whilst Ceuta and Melilla use FPTP for the remaining two. The Senate has 265 seats, 208 chosen by open-list block voting and the rest by regional legislatures. Naturally, it's whoever leads in the Congress that forms the government. Now then, let's meet the parties(that will likely cross the threshold)!
Spanish Socialist Workers Party(PSOE)-led by current President Pedro Sanchez: Centre-left, Social Democratic, Pro-European
People's Party(PP)-led by Pablo Casado: Centre-right to Right Wing, Pro-European, Economic Liberal, Liberal Conservative, Monarchist
Citizens Party or Ciudadanos(Cs)-led by Albert Rivera: Centre to Centre-right, Populist, Secularist, Alternately Nationalist and Post-Nationalist, Liberal, Pro-European
United We Can or Unidos Podemos-led by Pablo Iglesias: Left Wing, Democratic Socialist, Anti-Austerity, Left Populist
Vox-led by Santiago Abascal: Right Wing, Populist, Ultra-nationalist, Social Conservative, National Conservative, Soft Eurosceptic, Anti-Islamic
Republican Left of Catalonia(ERC)-led by Gabriel Rufian: Centre-left to Left, Catalan Separatist, Eurofederalist, Republican, Social Democratic, Left Wing Nationalist
More Country or Mas Pais-led by Inigo Errejon: Centre-left to Left, Progressive, Eco-Socialist, Green, Social Democratic, Feminist, Participatory Democratic
And there are many others to choose from as well, primarily regionalist in nature. So, what say you, NSG?
I was with Podemos, but this time around, I have to support PSOE. Spain needs movement at this point.
The April 28 election ended in absolute deadlock. Although the PSOE got a respectable lead, they and their traditional rivals, PP, were stunted by the growth of C's on the right and Unidos Podemos on the left. The only way a governing coalition could form was between PSOE and Podemos..and that was the start of the mess. Negotiations dragged on for months because, while Podemos and its leader, Pablo Iglesias, wanted a full-fledged coalition with 4-6 seats in the cabinet, PSOE and the current Spanish Government President(Spain's title for PM), Pedro Sanchez, wanted a mere C&S agreement with Podemos. Neither side would give way, so Spainards now have to go back to the polls on Sunday, November 10, to settle this whole mess. Polls have shown that Spainards are tired of the infighting with PSOE and PP both rising in the polls while Podemos has slumped and C's has gone down by several points. Meanwhile, the right-populist Vox is slowly recovering from collapsed numbers back in the late spring, but they still aren't likely to gain seats. Meanwhile, Podemos co-founder Inigo Errejon has turned his regional Mas Madrid party into the national Mas Pais(More Country) by merging it with the Valencian-interest CC, Aragonian-interest CHA, and Equo, a fledgling green party that used to be part of Unidas Podemos, leading to Podemos defections and a further split vote.
The Congress has 350 seats, 348 of which are decided using closed-list PR with D'Hondt counts and a 3% threshold whilst Ceuta and Melilla use FPTP for the remaining two. The Senate has 265 seats, 208 chosen by open-list block voting and the rest by regional legislatures. Naturally, it's whoever leads in the Congress that forms the government. Now then, let's meet the parties(that will likely cross the threshold)!
Spanish Socialist Workers Party(PSOE)-led by current President Pedro Sanchez: Centre-left, Social Democratic, Pro-European
People's Party(PP)-led by Pablo Casado: Centre-right to Right Wing, Pro-European, Economic Liberal, Liberal Conservative, Monarchist
Citizens Party or Ciudadanos(Cs)-led by Albert Rivera: Centre to Centre-right, Populist, Secularist, Alternately Nationalist and Post-Nationalist, Liberal, Pro-European
United We Can or Unidos Podemos-led by Pablo Iglesias: Left Wing, Democratic Socialist, Anti-Austerity, Left Populist
Vox-led by Santiago Abascal: Right Wing, Populist, Ultra-nationalist, Social Conservative, National Conservative, Soft Eurosceptic, Anti-Islamic
Republican Left of Catalonia(ERC)-led by Gabriel Rufian: Centre-left to Left, Catalan Separatist, Eurofederalist, Republican, Social Democratic, Left Wing Nationalist
More Country or Mas Pais-led by Inigo Errejon: Centre-left to Left, Progressive, Eco-Socialist, Green, Social Democratic, Feminist, Participatory Democratic
And there are many others to choose from as well, primarily regionalist in nature. So, what say you, NSG?
I was with Podemos, but this time around, I have to support PSOE. Spain needs movement at this point.
