UnHerd: What snapped in Spain?

Spain was due to hold a general election next year anyway, but it was always more likely than not that the PSOE would be forced to go to the polls before then. The party ousted the scandal-hit Rajoy government in a parliamentary vote of no confidence that won the backing of 180 MPs back in 2018. The vote followed a ruling by Spain’s highest criminal court that the PP had profited from illegal kickbacks from government contracts. Yet the anti-Rajoy alliance – which Sanchez himself described at one point as the “Frankenstein coalition” – crumbled soon after the PP had been deposed.[...]

In a country that had grown tired of the financial scandals surrounding the governing PP, Sanchez’s ruthless action in toppling Rajoy proved popular. As such, the PSOE currently sit at around 24% in the polls – granted a modest improvement on the 22% it was polling at prior to Rajoy’s departure, but nonetheless the largest share for any single party. [...]

Support for Podemos has almost halved in the polls from a high of 27% in December 2014 to 15% today, putting them in fourth place, and only four points ahead of Vox, a party of the hard Right. The steady decline of Podemos – in part the victim of that familiar curse of Left-wing political parties, the factional squabble – offers Sanchez breathing space on his Left. [...]

Only a fool would write off ‘Mr Handsome’ – as Pedro Sánchez is nicknamed. Like Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, Sanchez has been written-off many times in the past by establishment politicians and commentators only to re-emerge ahead of the pack. After almost a decade of austerity, fatigued voters may yet throw a spoke in the wheel of Spanish politics and return the Prime Minister who promised more money.

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Politico: For Catalan election, independence party goes back to basics

According to opinion polls, when Catalans cast their votes on Thursday, either the ERC or the centrist, anti-independence Ciudadanos could emerge as the largest party and it is far from certain whether either has strong enough allies to form a ruling coalition, meaning the political future of Catalonia — which accounts for a fifth of Spain’s total economic output — is plagued with uncertainty. [...]

Although the ERC — including Rovira — backed the unilateral declaration of independence, Rovira has made it clear she doesn’t favor another “unilateral action.” [...]

What would another pro-independence coalition do differently? “That’s the million-dollar question,” Rovira said. The plan, she explained, is to implement “all those reforms and policies that we are allowed to that will bring Catalonia forward without asking for the Spanish government’s permission.”

She gave the example of energy poverty and equal pay for women. “We’re going to launch a [negotiation] on electricity. We’re going to try not to cut the lights. We’re going to try and implement the laws that we have approved. All this without asking permission from the Spanish government. Without waiting for permission from the Spanish government.”

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