Flesher Fominaya, C. (2014) ““Spain is Different”: Podemos and 15-M“, LSE EUROPP, 04 Ιουνίου.
In a dismal post-European election scenario, in which the extreme right has managed to emerge as the leading political formation in a number of European democracies, Spain has once again lived up to the 1960’s tourist slogan “Spain is different”.
While the right-wing party Partido Popular (PP) won the most votes, the real news is the remarkable eruption of brand new party “Podemos” (“We can”) onto the political scene, becoming the fourth most voted for party with over 1.25 million votes and gaining an astonishing 5 seats in the European Parliament.
The only recent national party in Spain to come even close to such a feat was the arrival to parliament in 2008 of Unión, Progreso y Democracía (UPyD) who, in that general election, managed to gain one seat.
Of course, European elections and general elections are two very different things, but the impact of this new party has been extremely significant. As Fernández Albertos (2014) writes, in some cities and autonomous communities Podemos managed to beat traditional parties even in their strongholds, managing, for example, to surpass the Galician Nationalist Party BNG in Galicia and progressive/nationalist/ecological coalition party Compromís in Valencia.
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Díaz-Giménez, J. & Olsen, M. (2014) “The Future of Spain (2014 and beyond)“, Crisis Observatory, 07 Απριλίου.
- IMF (2013) “Spain: Financial Sector Reform—Fourth Progress Report“, International Monetary Fund–Country Report No. 13/331, 22 Νοεμβρίου.
- Krugman, P. (2013) “The Pain In Spain Is Not Hard To Explain“, The New York Times–The Opinion Pages, 22 Σεπτεμβρίου.