Spain's Anger Management - opinion piece in New York Times

Is this the dawn of a new era in Spanish politics, as some suggest? Judging from the results of last Sunday’s election, we can safely say that the old era has, at least, been dealt a severe blow.

Read the rest of Miguel-Anxo Murado's excellent article here.

Spain Makes A Sharp Right Turn: Socialist's suffer biggest defeat ever at the hands of the Popular Party

Yesterday's local and regional elections resulted in a landslide victory for the right-wing Popular Party (Partido Popular, aka PP), and the biggest defeat in 30 years for the Socialist Party.

Elections for regional governments were held in 13 of Spain's 17 Autonomous Regions, and in none of them did the Socialist Party receive a majority vote. The PP will now govern in several Autonomous Regions, including Castilla-La Mancha where the Socialists have held power since Spain's return to Democracy in the late 1970s. Although they lost in Extremadura, too, the Socialists will probably be able to hold onto power there by forming a minority government with a minor party, United Left.

In the many provincial and municipal provincial government elections which were also held yesterday, the news was just as bad for the Socialist Party. This included losing control of Barcelona's and Seville's city halls, two other long time Socialist bastions.

In Guipúzcoa province and the city of San Sebastián, which are both located in the Autonomous Region known as the Basque Country, the recently formed separatist party Bildu obtained more votes than the Socialists to come in second to the more moderate Basque Nationalist Party (BNP). Before the election the courts had considered banning Bildu due to allegations of connections to the armed terrorist group ETA.

In Spain, voters can cast what is called a 'blank vote' - meaning none of the above. This year there were some 500,000 blank votes, or 2.54 per cent of all votes cast. This was the highest number of bank votes in Spain's history.

Despite the overwhelming loss, Spain's Prime Minister and Socialist Party leader announced he would not step down and has refused calls to move up national parliamentary elections, which are planned for spring 2012.

Of course these elections took place against the backdrop of large protests being held in city centers across the country. The elections may be over, but the protests are not.

Today's El País in English has a closer look at all of this: PP inflicts massive electoral defeat on Socialists.

And EuroNews has the following video report:

Hasta luego amig@s,

Carloz

Related posts:

Zapatero’s Socialists Head for Vote Defeat in Spain as Protesters March

Inspired by Arab Protests, Spain's Unemployed Rally for Change

Zapatero’s Socialists Head for Vote Defeat in Spain as Protesters March

By Luis Jáspez - WikiMedia Commons

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialists are headed for defeat in local and regional elections after a week of street protests and sits- in against his policies, polls show.

Thirteen regions accounting for 60 percent of the economy and more than 8,000 municipalities hold elections on May 22. Polls show Zapatero’s Socialists will be defeated in most regions, including traditional strongholds, and may lose the city of Barcelona for the first time in three decades.

Support for the Socialists has flagged as Zapatero turned his back on traditional allies to push through wage reductions and spending cuts to fight the sovereign-debt crisis. The run-up to the vote, a year before polls to choose Zapatero’s successor, has seen demonstrations against budget cuts, bank bailouts and a 30-year-old democracy that protesters say safeguards entrenched interests.

“The conservative victory will be pretty much a punishment vote for the Socialists,” Alejandro Quiroga, a political science professor at Newcastle University in the U.K., said in a telephone interview. “It will add to the perception that this is a government on its way out.”

Protesters pitched tents in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square on May 15 and have demonstrated there ever since. They are calling for changes to the electoral system to reduce the dominance of the two main parties and stem corruption, while opposing spending cuts and a youth unemployment rate of 45 percent. They also want to vote for lawmakers directly rather than for party lists, and propose scrapping the Senate, Spain’s upper house of Parliament. [...]

After the polls, the Socialist party will turn its attention to a leadership contest as Zapatero said last month he won’t seek a third term. Polls show the favorites are Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba and Defense Minister Carme Chacon. While the party has given a mixed response to the protests, Chacon said May 18 that she was “listening” to the protesters and some of their objectives are “not only reasonable but possible.”

Read the whole thing at Bloomberg.com.

I'd say I wish I could vote, but the choices look pretty dismal.

Carloz

Related posts:

Spain Makes A Sharp Right Turn - Socialist's suffer biggest defeat ever at the hands of the Popular Party

Inspired by Arab Protests, Spain's Unemployed Rally for Change

Zapatero Zaps Opposition

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it had a nice ring to it. Anyway, Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist party, the PSOE, did win yesterday's national election. However, they only gained one seat in the Congress of Deputies (from 168 to 169 out of a total of 350), which means they are still a bit short of an absolute majority. (Seven, to be exact.) Mariano Rajoy's conservative party, the PP, picked up 6 seats (from 148 to 153). This increase might be enough to assure that Rajoy stays on as party leader, although he was not seen or heard from today.
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The enigmatic conservative Catalan party, CiU (Convergence and Union), is the only other party that increased its seats, going from 10 to 11. With the ruling socialist party not having a strong majority, this Catalan nationalist party could have significant influence in the new parliament.

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Perhaps the most interesting result of the election was the drop in votes for smaller parties: the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), which advocates independence for Catalonia, went from 8 seats to 3. Another of the regional nationalist parties, the Basque EAJ-PNV (Basque Nationalist Party), lost one seat to go down to 6. The left wing IU (United Left) went from 5 to 2 seats and the party leader, Gaspar Llamazares has since announced that he would resign. The few remaining seats went to CC-PNC (Canary Island Coalition - 2 seats), BNG (Galician Nationalist Bloc - 2), UPyD (Union, Progress and Democracy - 1 seat) and Na Bai (Navarre Yes - 1). The Aragonese Council and Basque Solidarity parties did not garner enough votes to win parliamentary seats.

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Interestingly, in the Senate, where there are currently a total of 259 seats, the PP (Popular Party) technically won more seats than the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party), although both parties declined in their total numbers. The PP went from 102 to 101 seats and the PSOE went from 81 to 89. There are more seats in the Senate and 56 of those are not elected but are appointed by regional legislatures. Of the other elected seats, 12 were won by the Catalan Coalition called Entesa (Catalan for "understanding") which is made up the Catalan socialist party (PSC), the ERC, ICV (Catalan Green Initiative) and EUA (United Alternative Left); 4 were won by CiU and 2 by the EAJ-PNV.

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Of the two houses, the Congress of Deputies has more power, including the authority to choose the Prime Minister and the ability to override most Senate decisions with a majority vote. Apparently one unique power of the Senate is to appoint judges.

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At his party's headquarters in Madrid, Zapatero gave a victory speech in which he paid tribute to victims of terrorism and their families, including the Basque socialist party member, Isiais Carrasco, who was assassinated by ETA last Friday. He then went on to say he would continue with things he has done well and correct his mistakes. Today the media seem to be presenting him as humbler and ready for dialogue. Only time will tell.

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I suppose among the things some voters view as accomplishments during his first 4 years were withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004, giving more autonomy to the Regional Communities that make up Spain, making divorce easier and legalizing same-sex marriage. However, these are not things that touch on most Spaniard's day to day lives in a significant way. In fact, on the subject of the economy, which effects everyone, I hear many people (even some who say they voted for him) grumbling that he has done nothing to address it. Many people seem to think he has more or less just let it coast along, pretty much on autopilot -- and now it seems to be crashing.

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So, why did Z's PSOE win in the Congress of Deputies? Well the consensus among people I've talked with is that people voted against parties rather than for a party. Perhaps people were tired of the squabbling caused by the smaller separatist and nationalist groups. Perhaps the PSOE's publicity aimed at making people frightened of the PP worked. Perhaps the PP's own broken-record mantra of fear mongering against immigrants and bemoaning the decline of "Spanish" family values put people off. Perhaps no other parties seemed to be offering meaningful alternatives. Perhaps people simply preferred Zapatero to Rajoy, as opposed to the PSOE to the PP. (Surveys indicated that Zapatero won the televised debates he had with Rajoy, which were watched by many Spaniards.)

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One final note: at 75%, voter turnout was as high as it was in the 2004 election. How does that compare to voter turnout in your country? It puts mine to shame.

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Chao amig@s,

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Carloz

English in Spain

According to a recent survey by researchers at IPSOS, 81% of Spaniards do not know English well, while only 4% have an advanced level of knowledge. Looking closer at the results, 20% have a basic knowledge, 19% very basic and 15% intermediate.
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Perhaps even more revealing were the findings that only 2% of the population are currently studying English and that 73% have never studied it outside of the basic classes provided in the country's school system.
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The highest percentage, 51%, of people lacking the ability to communicate in English occurred in towns with populations under 10,000. At the other end of the scale, 36% of those in metropolitan areas over 750,000 inhabitants could not communicate in English.
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Among respondents from 25 to 45 years of age, 46% of the women did not know English, compared with 38% of the men.
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As for educational background, 48% of those that had not attended university said they did not know English, followed by 39% with a basic level, 11% intermediate and 2% advanced. Of the 40% of those with university studies, 40% possessed an intermediate knowledge of English, 37% basic, 14% advanced and only 8% said they did had no knowledge of the language.
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By geographical areas, the largest percentage of those who did not know English were in the center of Spain (57%), followed by the south (50%), and the northwest (31%). The areas with the highest concentration of advanced levels were in the metropolitan area of Madrid (8%) and the East Coast (7%).
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Among people between 25 and 45 years, only 2% were currently studying English. The majority of these were doing so in an academy (54%) or via the Internet (22%). Other options were self study courses (13%), classes at work (11%), distance learning (9%) with a private teacher (8%) and at a city's publicly funded Official School of Languages.
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Among those not currently studying English but who had taken a course in the last five years, the most popular choice was a language academy (58%), followed by a distance course (11%), a private teacher (10%), studying abroad (10%), and Internet (3%).
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Although a majority of those surveyed thought it was very important to know English, 43% of those not currently studying the language cited a lack of interest as their reason for not doing so.
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Well, it looks like there is real need for the promises the two major political parties have made in the current electoral campaign about implementing programs are supposed to result in all high school graduates 10 years from now being fluent in English. Interestingly, neither of the candidates for Prime Minister (Zapatero and Rajoy) speak English. And for those of you who may have heard former Prime Minister Aznar speaking English on the news, he only learned it after he left office.
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Chao amig@s,
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Carloz

Z promises more English, Rajoy more Spanish

Z is the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodíguez Zapatero. One of his latest campaign promises is to put 20,000 native English teachers in public schools -- 12,000 part-time teachers and 8,000 English language assistants -- if the Socialist party wins the March 9th general election.

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Meanwhile, challenger Mariano Rajoy has said that if the Popular Party wins he will pass a law giving parents in Spain the right to have their children enducated in Spanish. This is actually aimed at the Autonomous Region of Catalonia, as public education here is conducted in Catalan. (All other Autonomous Regions where two languages are spoken give parents the option of sending their children to Spanish language or local language schools.)
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¡Vamos a ver!

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Carloz

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P.S.

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If you want to read more on the Spanish election, the BBC news website today ran a pretty good little overview of it in an article entitled, "Spanish PM Faces Voters' Verdict." I especially liked the following line in the article: "If the US election is a marathon, Spain's is a sprint." Thank God for that!

It's election time!

Not the US election, but the Spanish election. On March 9 Spaniards will go to the polls to vote for Parliament -- 350 seats in the lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies ,and 208 seats in the upper chamber, the Senate. The make-up of the Parliament determines which party (or which coalition of parties) selects the Prime Minister, who is also referred to as the President of the Government.
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The two major parties are the conservative PP (Partido Popular - Popular Party), led by Mariano Rajoy and the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español - Spanish Socialist Workers Party), led by the current Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Other parties include:the United Left (IU), Convergence and Union (CiU), the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).
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Compared to the USA, campaigns in Spain are relatively brief -- thank God! While there is plenty of maneuvering and posturing for a few months before the election, advertisements are only allowed during an officially designated campaign period. For example, on January 14 of this year the Spanish government approved the dissolution of Parliament and called for general elections on March 9. The official electoral campaign runs from February 22 until March 7.
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However, before the advertising begins parties issue statements, candidates make promises, polls are conducted and the media covers it all. So far the PSOE has promised to a 400 euro tax rebate for all citizens, while the PP has said it would require immigrants to sign a "contract" promising to learn Spanish, adapt to the culture and traditions of Spain and obey the nations laws. Both parties promise more nurseries and pre-schools, higher pensions and to plant trees to combat climate change. (The PSOE was the first to come up with the tree offer, and said it would plant 45 million trees nationwide. Last week the PP upped the ante by promising to plant 500 million! So, either way, Spain will be greener by 2012, right? Yeah, right!)
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As for controversy, well, the Spanish Catholic Church got into the act by issuing a letter telling its members not to vote for parties that support abortion rights and gay marriage -- in other words, don't vote for the PSOE. (The Zapatero government introduced full gay marriage in Spain in 2005. The PP has said it does not intend to overturn it.) The Government was so bothered by the Spanish Bishop's Conference intrusion into the political process that it had its ambassador to the Vatican make a formal complaint. (The Pope has yet to respond -- and if he does, I'll bet it's with a similar letter of his own.)
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The economy is a major issue and will surely affect the outcome. The Spanish housing market bubble is deflating, if not exactly bursting, with prices beginning to fall; price increases for basic necessities have been sharp; unemployment is rising; and because of world-wide economic instability, Spaniards seem to be a little jittery in general. This has been a rather recent turn around, coming after a few years of steady economic growth.
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This change in exonomic fortunes probably has done more than anything else to allow the PP to cut into the PSOE's lead in the polls. A month ago, the PSOE was widely seen as having the best chance at victory. Now, according to one major survey reported on in today's El Pais, the PSOE has only a 2.9% lead over the PP.
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So, who will win? ¿Quien sabe?