Now is the day of the big test to see if the change of the political landscape in Spain that takes anticipating for months is confirmed. Sunday elections are held in more than 8,000 municipalities, and in 13 of the 17 autonomous communities.
It has long spoken of the end of bipartisanship, the hegemony of the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), which have alternated in power for three decades. And the last two alternative forces that have appeared on the political map, can and Citizens, already on familiar terms with traditional formations in the polls.
The first real test of this new landscape were the regional elections in Andalusia in March, which confirmed that citizens can and are more than a phenomenon of opinion polls, and they got respectable results.
Fear in the RFP. In local and regional elections of 2011 he swept the PP and territorial won a share of power in a democracy unknown until then. Half a year later won an absolute majority in the national parliament that has allowed him to rule Spain until today. But now even the conservatives fear most in its two main electoral strongholds, communities of Madrid and Valencia.
The experts in public opinion research studies are more cautious than ever about their own forecasts, as they find it difficult to estimate the true support that can raise and Citizens. One clue, however, may be the fact that surveys have detected a large mobilization among young voters, who are more likely to opt for the new ones for the traditional parties. In addition, the number of undecided is higher than ever.
The PP President Mariano Rajoy has entrusted everything to the economic recovery under his rule. During the election campaign, the focus of the conservatives were the macroeconomic figures, with an expected growth of up to 3% of GDP this year. It is the story of how the PP inherited from the socialist country in ruins and on the verge of asking for an international bailout to return to the path of growth, awarded by international investors who have returned to Spain.
problem is that much of society is not noticing this improvement. In this sense, Rajoy had a significant slip at an election rally in Aragon. “Today nobody talks and rescue, recession and unemployment,” he said. They rained criticism from all sides because in a country with five million unemployed is dared to say that unemployment is no longer an issue. President rectified but the damage was done. Many voters feel that the government and the PP are alien to the everyday problems of the people.
The weight of corruption
But what weighs on the electoral expectations of conservative Sunday is the profusion of corruption cases that have come to light in recent years. The scandals also affect the PSOE and other parties that have held power, but the PP takes by far the worst.
A judge recently concluded that the party maintained a parallel accounting for decades, where hid illegal donations and other large construction companies. A regional minister of the PP in Valencia is in jail for having stayed with the public money earmarked for development projects in Latin America and Africa. Is just one of the many functions that are in prison, including the Balearic president Jaume Matas highlighted.
Beyond these criminal practices, many citizens also reject the way that PP and PSOE have extended its influence in all state institutions over time. The explosive mix of economic crisis, corruption and a somewhat rusty system was provoked protest movements born on May 15, 2011 with slogans such as ‘do not represent us’ and ‘Real Democracy Now’.
We can and citizens
We have managed to capitalize on the malaise among citizens. Its unexpected success in the European elections in 2014, when he garnered 8% of the vote, was also due to recipes left as an alternative to overcome the crisis. Since then he has moderated his positions also seduce moderate voters.
But competent
Citizens, a party until recently confined almost entirely to Catalonia also calls for democratic regeneration and a determined fight against corruption. His political ideology is more moderate and liberal.
Among the many battlefields of these elections, special importance is given to Madrid and Barcelona, and not just because they are the two main cities. In both municipalities it is possible to win one of the new platforms competing for the first time.
The polls give as favorite to Barcelona in Comú, an alliance of social movements and leftist parties, including We can which decided not own brand in local elections, but only in the regional. Your candidate is Colau Ada, who became famous as a fierce campaigner against evictions of people who could not pay their mortgage and ending in the street by a decision of the banks, one of the social effects of the crisis that has permeated the
. Public opinion in Spain’s capital Madrid is now also supported by Podemos, which dispute the power to PP, which takes 24 years to control the council. The duel between Manuela Carmena, a retired judge and former labor activist, and Esperanza Aguirre, who resigned as president of the Community of Madrid three years ago but that has never stopped being a heavyweight within the PP and a critical voice with Rajoy, has captivated the public.
“When you win, cement and brick just” promised Carmena, referring to the constructor boom that led to the crisis. Aguirre recalled some contacts with the leaders of Podemos Chavez government of Venezuela to accuse their opponents of being “totalitarian”. The latest polls predict a draw.
Although local issues weigh the results of today will be an important message ahead of national elections at the end of the year.
New parties, new voters
Two games with very young and vibrant leaders are released in these municipal elections nationwide and generational reasons could benefit from the fact that the electoral census has a total of more than 1,559,448 people have come of age since the previous local elections were held four years ago.
The leftist and centrist Citizens can threaten restarles votes the PSOE and the PP, who are concerned about the high number of undecided voters, which some polls put them at 30 percent.
In fact, of the 1.5 million young people who will vote today for the first time in a city, are 386 119 who will have a chance to go for the first time to vote in any election.
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