Tema destacado del Martes, 4. Marzo 2008

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Is Spain heading for a two-party system ?

A few days ahead of legislative elections on March 9th, the European press notes that the Spanish political landscape is starkly divided between the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) led by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and PP Mariano Rajoy's PP (Right-wing party).

El Correo - España

The daily considers that the "television debate between Zapatero and Rajoy that was broadcast on March 3rd was the most decisive point in the election campaign. ... The on-going battle between the two major parties, far from favouring the emergence of smaller parties, actually reinforces bipartisan politics. Thus we may well find ourselves facing the paradox that the implacable confrontation millions of Spaniards watched yesterday will facilitate things for the victor. This is simply because if the number of seats won by the PSOE and the PP were to surpass the number obtained by the main parties in the previous elections of 2004, the weakening of minor parties would give the winner room for manoeuvre that the socialist government has not enjoyed during the last four years." (04/03/2008)

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Financial Times - Gran Bretaña

"Spain's general election campaign, now reaching its climax, has been a dispiriting spectacle", comments the daily. "Against the background of an economy weakened by the end of cheap credit and a sharp property market correction, the contenders seem to be trying to bribe or frighten Spanish voters. That is odd. Spain in the past three decades has become a confident and prosperous democracy. … If all you did was listen to Spanish politicians, you probably would not guess that. Spain's public life has become very polarised. The rightwing opposition Partido Popular [PP], in power for eight years after a 14-year Socialist reign, remains unreconciled to losing the past election ... Instead of acting as a parliamentary opposition, the PP has tried to impugn constitutionally major initiatives of the Socialists, in an effort to paralyse government." (03/03/2008)

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Público - Portugal

Pedro Magalhães notes the absence of any consensus in Spanish politics. "Consensus is not a virtue in itself. But the absence of any basis for consensus between the two major Spanish parties on themes as crucial as defence, foreign policy, the struggle against terrorism, the power and competence of autonomous communities or the justice system, has to be disturbing. It is also true that nothing is certain and that political divides, even the deepest, can be reduced as well as reinforced by elections. Polls, however, are indicating no such tendency. If the PSOE wins, it will win by a very narrow margin, and thus the victory will not suffice to make the current leaders legitimate, while things won't be made any easier for the moderate right-wingers. A victory for the PP would be final proof for conservatives that confrontation and polarisation pay off." (03/03/2008)

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Suiza

Even though Spain appears to be fixated on the contest between Conservatives and Socialists, smaller and, in some cases, regional parties also have a role to play in helping the larger ones achieve a majority. Peter Gaupp writes about a new party, the Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPD), of which MEP Rosa Díez and philosophy professor Fernando Savater are both members: "The party defines itself as 'national, constitutional, secular and progressive' and wants to revive the sprit of a new beginning which prevailed in the transitional period between Franco's dictatorship and democracy. The UPD rejects separatism and nationalism as voracious, undemocratic and non-conducive to coalition building. ... It remains unclear from which party the UPD will win more voters: both PSOE and the PP are studiously ignoring the troublemaker. But the group has managed to put up candidates all over Spain in the short time since it was founded. With its scarce resources, it is staging an original election campaign with spontaneous, open-air discussion forums." (04/03/2008)

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