Ideas General elections in Spain

The Spanish exception

Published on 19 December 2015 at 10:58

European politics has been experiencing a radicalisation towards the extremes over the last few years, following a string of events that have shaken the continent. The most recent of these, the Paris attacks, unleashed a wave of terror and fear along with a furious reaction across all of Europe. No less important, and over a much longer time-frame, is the surge in immigration to Europe during the past year from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.

The result of the first round of France’s regional elections was the first political response to the impact of these events on French public opinion. The National Front secured almost 30% of the vote, in some regions reaching above 40%. In the second round, a curious but not unprecedented alliance of left and right stopped the extreme-right party from governing any region. But the trend has been on the up for many years, remaining solid in any case and markedly different from the decline of the socialist left, led by President Hollande, and the right, represented by former President Sarkozy.

But France is far from the exception. Other countries have also followed this tendency of radicalisation towards the extremes. A few weeks ago, Poland voted in the Law and Justice party (PiS), an extremely conservative group that, as one of its first measures, announced the country would close its borders to immigrants coming from the Middle East, in doing so emulating Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. In the United Kingdom, UKIP, an ultranationalist party, has been making hay with David Cameron’s difficult compromise to hold a yes-no referendum on EU membership (known as “Brexit”). In Scandinavia the extreme right has been riding high.

In Spain we are travelling in a different direction, and this in spite of having been hit by same two elements that have led to radicalisation in other countries. We have been victim to islamist or jihadist terrorism – lest we forget the most bloody attacks in Europe killed 191 in Madrid in March 2004 – and have seen the continent’s most intense immigration over the past 20 years. In spite of all this, there is no political party in Spain that has included closing the borders within its political agenda, even when faced with such events and such threats. John Carlin writes in El País of “Spain’s enviable politics” and of the “increase in the quality” of democracy brought about by the emergence of new parties, as a reaction to what he labels, perhaps a little exageratedly, “the political poverty of the past” —

Receive the best of European journalism straight to your inbox every Thursday

the same people who viewed Spain with disdain from abroad today must see it as a country to be envied, particularly in the context of the most interesting issue of our age in Europe and the US: the sudden emergence into the political sphere of parties or individuals – “the insurgents” as the British press calls them – who are threatening to break with the established order.

The fundamental question under discussion is without doubt that of the crisis of the traditional two-party system, a phenomenon we share with other European countries. But the emerging Spanish parties, who like to distinguish between “new” and “old” politics, have not gone looking for scapegoats from abroad. Perhaps the priorities of the public have been moving in a different direction, and these parties have yielded to them, namely the devastating effects of the economic crisis and the demolition of Spain’s political class in the eyes of the public following a series of corruption scandals. These two main issues have brought about the convergence of the two parties representing “new politics”, Ciudadanos and Podemos, towards the centre, as the New York Times puts it. Referring to Ciudadanos, it claims —

The splintering of politics in Europe has spawned the rise of numerous upstart parties, usually on the extremes, be they left or right. But in Spain’s shifting political landscape one new party, surprisingly, is managing to attack from the center, challenging conservatives and Socialists alike.

As for Podemos, the newspaper writes —

Mr. Iglesias has struggled to shift his party toward a more centrist electorate without losing the support of the far-left faction that founded it in 2014.

On 20 December, the day of Spain’s general elections, we will see just how far the effect of this “new politics” reaches. And in the weeks to come, we will find out whether these new players have the ability to try and form a government alone, or – the most likely option – in a coalition with other parties, and so determine Spain’s political future.

Translated by Simon Pickstone

On the picture by ABC: Prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos) and Pablo Iglesias (Podemos).

Tags

Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!

It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.

Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!

Are you a news organisation, a business, an association or a foundation? Check out our bespoke editorial and translation services.

Support independent European journalism

European democracy needs independent media. Join our community!

On the same topic