Spanish poll tipped to put far right back in office for first time since Franco

Madrid, July 22

Voters in Spain go to the polls Sunday in an election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR EUROPE?

• A PP-Vox government would mean another EU member has moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland and Italy
• Countries such as Germany and France are concerned by what such a shift would portend for EU immigration and climate policies
• Spain’s two main leftist parties are pro-EU participation. On the right, the PP is also in favour of the EU, but Vox is not
• The election comes as Spain holds the EU’s rotating presidency Sánchez had hoped to use the six-month term to showcase the advances his government had made. An election defeat for Sánchez could see the PP taking over the EU presidency reins

Opinion polls indicate the political right has the edge going into the election, and that raises the possibility a neo-fascist party will be part of Spain’s next government.

The extreme right has not been in power in Spain since the transition to democracy following the death of former dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

With no party expected to win an absolute majority, the choice for voters is basically between another leftist governing coalition or one between the right and the far right.

The right-of-centre Popular Party, the front-runner in the polls, and the extreme right Vox party are on one side.

They portray the vote as a chance to end “Sanchismo” — a term the PP uses to sum up what it contends are the dictatorial ways of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the left’s radical ideology and numerous lies by the government.

In the other corner are the Socialists and a new movement called Sumar that brings together 15 small leftist parties for the first time. They warn that putting the right in power will threaten Spain’s post-Franco changes.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election a day after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (United We Can), took a hammering in local and regional elections May 28. Prior to that, Sánchez had insisted he would ride out his four-year term, indicating that an election would be held in December. But after the May defeat, he said it was only fair for Spaniards to decide the country’s political future without delay. — AP