In almost 40 degrees heat, people go to the polls in Spain. Five months ahead of schedule. That was decided by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in May, after he saw the results of the local elections. Then the conservative parties took power in several important cities, such as Madrid, Valencia and Seville. Sánchez said he had to take “personal responsibility”, and postponed the parliamentary elections from December to July. He based it on the fact that he must “find out what the Spanish people want, and get a clarification on what political direction the government should take”. These are the men who are fighting for the Spaniards’ vote: PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez and PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Photo: JUAN MEDINA / Reuters Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE have governed Spain since 2018. The socialist party is known for having governed the country through economic growth. Spain is currently one of the countries in Europe with the lowest inflation. The party has also made a name for itself through a number of progressive laws, which secure the rights of women and minorities in the country. They legalized same-sex marriage in 2005. Two years later the Equality Act came. Last year there was a consent act, and this year there was a trans act. Recently, a law was also passed which gave women the opportunity to register sick when menstruating. It is laws like these that are used against them in the election campaign. The biggest competitor is the conservative party PP. – The leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is a serious candidate, he does not want major upheavals, and wants to give peace to the government. That is according to David Jiménez Torres, historian and expert on Spanish politics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. David Jiménez Torres is a historian and expert on Spanish politics. Photo: PRIVAT – People vote conservative because they want a government that governs properly, says Torres. He believes that it is primarily individual cases that have led to people now looking to the right: – There have been cases where politicians have been given leadership positions without being qualified. It also became a big deal when the consent law introduced by the PSOE led to several hundred sex offenders having their sentences reduced, due to a loophole in the law. Sánchez apologized for the blunder, and said he would amend the law as quickly as possible. In addition, PSOE faced great opposition when the party removed a law that criminalized voting on Catalan self-government, after Catalonia had a referendum in 2017. – PSOE needed support from Catalan and Basque separatist parties to form a government, and there was speculation as to whether they removed this law in exchange for support, says Torres. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo is Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s biggest competitor in the election. Photo: Bernat Armangue / AP Towards the right The latest opinion polls show that the right-wing party PP, together with the far-right party Vox, are likely to win the election. Although the PP does best in the polls, it is the far-right party Vox that gets the most attention in the media. Because if PP is to manage to form a government, they need Vox. And if that happens, Spain will have its first far-right government since the Franco dictatorship. The far-right party Vox and the far-left party Sumar will be important in the election on Sunday. The leaders, Santiago Abascal and Yolanda Díaz met for a debate on Wednesday. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO / AFP That worries Jose Maria Izquierd. He is a professor at UiO, has researched Spanish history, and follows Spanish politics closely. – Everything that PSOE has built up from progressive laws in recent years, the conservatives can tear down, he says. Izquierd believes that it is not necessarily a matter of people wanting a reversal of these laws: – Many conservatives are not against everything the government has done, but they cannot accept a coalition government that needs support from Basque and Catalan nationalists. Because experience shows that coalition governments mean trouble. Professor Jose Maria Izquierd is worried about the support for the far-right party Vox. Photo: UiO And if PSOE is to manage to form a government, they most likely need support from both the far-left party Sumar and the Catalan party. – Suffocating political correctness Vox was founded in 2013, and has had a strong increase in membership since then. – The party program is largely based on tearing down PSOE’s program, says Izquierd. The party has stated that they want to work against PSOE’s woke ideology, and a “suffocating political correctness”. Vox leader Santiago Abascal will work against “woke ideology”. Photo: OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP The party, led by Santiago Abascal, is going to the polls on, among other things, tax relief and the deportation of illegal immigrants. But what has received the most attention are the laws Vox wants to repeal. Laws that secure transpersons’ rights, the right to abortion, animal rights, in addition to climate laws. In June, Vox erected a large banner in Madrid, one month before the election. The banner showed various symbols representing feminism, LGBT+ rights, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Catalan separatism, which are thrown at the boss. This banner caused great controversy when it was put up in the middle of Madrid at the end of June. Photo: THOMAS COEX / AFP – Gender-based violence does not exist PSOE has worked a lot to counteract gender-based violence, and has its own courts that deal with cases of violence against women. Among the things that have caused controversy in the media is Vox’s desire to change this law. – Gender violence does not exist, macho violence does not exist, said the leader of Vox Valencia, Jose Maria Llanos, in June. Vox wants to redefine the law to “family-based violence”, and believes that the law as it stands now is stigmatizing towards men. Photo: JON NAZCA / Reuters Why has Vox become so popular in recent years? – The main reason why people vote for Vox is the same as why people vote for far-right parties around Europe. There is a feeling that the nation is at stake, and that the biggest parties are not doing enough to defend him, says Torres. What changes will we see if PP wins – and forms a government with Vox? – If the PP comes to power, they will probably modify several of the laws of the Sánchez government, so it depends on how many seats Vox will get, and how much power they can possibly get. Hear also:
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