Palma05/06/2018 00:00
A party which polled 5,443,846 votes at the last general election now governs Spain, but the party which polled 7,941,236 is in opposition. It is a ridiculous situation really. Almost eight million Spaniards voted for a party, the Partido Popular, which is now on the fringes while the smaller parties have moved forward. What happened in Spain last week was not really democratic. Granted that the vote of no-confidence in former prime minister Mariano Rajoy had plenty of support, but the maths really speak for themselves. Pedro Sanchez is now the new prime minister but he has just 85 MPs compared to the 137 of the Partido Popular. No prizes for guessing that the new Sanchez government will not be in power long!
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When the majority of the Spanish people vote a party to be in power and by default an alternative party takes power, that is NOT democratic and never will be. This situation just hands more power to the unelected EU commission and leaves Spain weaker than ever. It should be the Spanish political system fighting against Brussels than arguing amongst themselves.
Of course it was democratic. 100%. May I suggest you read the Constitution. Rajoy himself said yesterday “ha pasado algo absolutamente democrático, el Congreso me quitó la confianza…”. The last general elections were over a year ago and a great deal has happened since then. It was perfectly legal and legitimate for the opposition to table a no confidence vote just as it would be in the UK and other countries. Pacts between different parties are commonplace. You may not be happy with the result – fair enough, I suspect that many others aren't either – but to imply that it was undemocratic says little of you as an editor.
M Irving, I thought you would be happy to have someone called Peter in power.
Time for French voting system to be introduced I.e unrestricted number of candidates allowed in first round, followed by run off vote week later, between the two parties that had the highest number of votes in round one. Would get rid of all the'horse tading ' that's going on at present With Rajoy resigning, it's time for Sorya Santa Maria to be considered as a likely contender for PP leadership she's proved herself more than capable-time for Macho Spain ' to get real - time for Spanish women to shed male dominance.
Balearic Islands
Richard. Where is 'here' please?
TG, it’s the voting system that has failed, not Democracy.
The Spanish people voted for the PP party. The people want the P.P party in power. Democracy has failed in Spain. Very sad times.
Exactly the same situation here and still they have managed to stay in power for over 3 years.