Changing Times

Spanish politics was once a two sided affair; in the blue corner the centre right Partido Popular and in the red corner the Spanish Socialist Party. And bar a few smaller regional parties that was it. How times have changed. To this list we can now add the far left Podemos, the centre right Ciudadanos and more recently, the far right Vox. What we are seeing in Spain is a big change in how people vote with the more radical parties on both the left and the right becoming more popular. The question which has to be asked is why? Podemos was born out of the anti-austerity movement and struck a chord with voters who wanted a more radical left-wing manifesto than the one which was being offered by the more mainstream Spanish Socialist Party. Podemos is still a major player in Spanish politics. And now we have Vox. This far-right party has tapped into the anti-Catalan feeling following the ill-fated independence referendum. Calling for a united Spain, Vox, burst on to the scene in the Andalusian elections last weekend, taking 12 seats in the regional parliament. Could Vox be successful in the Balearics? Yes, they could even be elected to the local parliament in the municipal elections in May. For the Partido Popular the arrival of Vox and Ciudadanos has given them an opportunity to form a right-wing alliance, a coalition which could soon govern Andalusia. While the socialists do not have a problem with a pact with Podemos, the Partido Popular feels the same with Vox.