Election

Jason Moore19/05/2016 00:00

The main political parties in Spain are under pressure to keep their election budgets low. In other words they have been told not to overspend on their publicity budgets. So there will be a low-key election campaign in Spain ahead of the poll next month.

This makes no sense to me at all. The main political parties need to campaign exceptionally hard if the deadlock of the last general election is to be broken. If no party wins an overall majority again next month and there is no possibility of a coalition then we will be back to square one. Spain obviously needs a government. So the centre-right Partido Popular and Ciudadanos and the left-wing PSOE and Podemos need to make their points and get as many votes as possible. I suspect that there will be an increase in support for the Partido Popular as the Spanish economy continues to recover. But they will not gain an overall majority. Political commentators still say that a pact between Ciudadanos and the Partido Popular is likely but both parties have to poll far more votes. The two parties combined at the last general election was not enough to form coalition.

So the pressure is on. If Spain wants a stable government then the political parties must work long and hard to get their message across and get as many people to the ballot box. The political uncertainty is already denting investment in Spain. Spain needs a government at the next election to end the stalemate.

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3 comments

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Sean Dobson | over 8 years ago

At the risk of forming a mutual admiration society,I agree with everything Sara has written and add that it's time to stop the blame game,whereby everything is the fault of the last government and whoever forms the next government,gets on with running the country for the benefit of the people.

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Sara | over 8 years ago

Like Sean, I too am beginning to wonder whether we really need a government at all! But reducing publicity budgets is a must - the total cost for the last election in December was some €135 million of public funds if I remember rightly (money now down the drain) and Spain just can't afford to keep spending that amount of 'our' money. We don't need to see their faces on billboards or placards hanging from lampposts or for the parties to hold those big meetings where they bus in supporters to fill stadiums, supporters who are going to vote for them anyway. What we need are more TV debates to help people decide.Whoever wins, the last thing we need is another overall majority for any party. A 'hung parliament' is, I understand, looked on unfavourably in the UK but past experience has proven it to be the best way in Spain. Overall majorities have resulted in authoritarian governments (both PSOE and PP). The parties and their leaders have to forget their own egos and be capable of reaching pacts with one another for the good of the country.

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Sean Dobson | over 8 years ago

They seem to be doing a lot better without an elected government to me.

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