Elections in Spain: right-wing coalition puts into

This Sunday (23), the Spaniards face the general elections. The country’s election brings with it the risk of the extreme right coming to power, decades after the Franco dictatorship. This is because the most traditional party of the Spanish right, the Popular Party (PP), in order to elect Alberto Núñez Feijóo, could join forces with Vox, representative of the ultra right, to try to remove the current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez from power, of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

The coalition between Vox and PP took place for the first time in the municipal and regional elections, which took place in May this year. With that, the right and the extreme right conquered the government of several regions that were led by the PSOE. At the time, the PP obtained 6.9 million votes (31.53%), against 6.2 million (28.14%) for the PSOE. Vox already had 1.5 million votes, and managed to triple its number of councilors, going from 500 to more than 1,700.

The PSOE is running against time in order not to lose the government. The latest survey of voting intentions in Spain revealed that the PP is ahead in the electoral race. The main research institutes in Spain disclosed, last Monday (17), that the PP has a chance to win from 131 to 151 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, with 350 members. The PSOE, on the other hand, can have 98 to 115 seats.

In Spain, each party submits a list of candidates for deputies. After the elections, the number of votes each caption received is measured to arrive at the number of seats won. For the Senate, the vote is direct.

Aiming for an absolute majority in the Chamber, achieved with 176 seats, the PP has even considered an alliance with the extremist Vox, whose leader is Santiago Abascal. Which, according to Paulo Velasco, professor of International Politics at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), would be the equivalent of “selling your soul to the devil”.

“It’s a question of political survival. The PP is not in a position to reach an absolute majority in Parliament. The question remains: what will it yield to Vox?”, questions Velasco.

For the professor, the risk lies in the governance space that will be offered to the extremist party.

“It is a coalition that does not have an easy balance because they are incompatible proposals even with the traditional Spanish right, which is democratic by definition”, explains Velasco.

Among the projects that Vox defends are the alteration of legislation that deal with gender equality and violence, abortion law and union between people of the same sex. The party also advocates withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, a treaty on climate change adhered to by the entire European Union. For Vox, the agreement is a regulation of the “globalist elites” that interfere in the prosperity of the Spaniards.

“Many of Santiago Abascal’s projects are on the threshold of what is to act on a democratic basis. Many of those who vote for the PP do not want to see the party embarking on a dark path, within the proposals that Vox proposes”, says Velasco.

Editing: Thales Schmidt