Sunday, November 10, 2019

Spain's Fourth Election in Four Years

Yes, today is election day in Spain, which is getting to be a fairly routine thing (4th attempt in four years).

The chief problem from the three past elections, they can't form a cohesive coalition government from the parties.

Odds of today's episode changing things?  If you go and read through the hype of journalists there.....pretty close to zero-percent chance.  There would have to be a good ten-percent swing in votes....with either Social Democracy or the Conservationism Christian Democracy folks getting 35-plus percent of the vote (both seem unlike to top 25-percent).

Trying to run a minority government?  It would mean that the lesser parties can pile onto the problem, and run the main winner down.

The fact that there are almost 50 political parties running in this election?  It will dilute a lot of the vote (I would suggest between 5 and 8 percent of the public will vote for minor no-name parties).

The PACMA Party?  Mostly against mistreatment of animals....beyond that it's a marginal party.

The Empty Seats Party?  Well, if they win any seats in the national assembly, they will designate them as plain empty seats and ensure that no one represents them.  In their mind, fewer politicians are a better thing.  It's actually an enticing thought....less representation is better democracy.

Popular Unity Candidacy Party?  This is a regional party out of Barcelona, with around 2,000 members in the party.   Most refer to them as 'left-based', but centered on Catalan independence.  They are labeled as profeminist, anti-capitalist, pro-environment, supporting public votes on hard decisions, and known for being EU skeptics. 

So today's election will be interesting and for some of these parties....it might be their last hurrah.  But don't worry....fresh new parties will appear in a year, if this isn't really settled, and another election will occur. 

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