Part 1
The most important issues during the Spain elections included the presence of a far-right party, the country’s economy, and the political gridlock plus the risks of instability. Since the death of their dictator, Francisco Franco in 1975, the country has not had a far-right party, which changed after Vox secured 24 seats during the recent elections. Recent polls suggest that Pedro Sanchez will win but his socialist party will not get the majority seats in the congress of deputies. In the past, Spain has been able to maintain steady economic growth and development by use of austerity policies, which might change depending on the laws that will be implemented by the new president (TRT World).
The most surprising outcome and important outcome of this election were based on the performance of the Vox Party. From the civil wars in 1939, Spain has remained a deeply divided country between right and left. Far-right parties normally oppose socialism and social democracies. The surprising outcome of this year’s election was that the far-right party, Vox, won 24 out of 350 seats after joining Spain’s political scene last year (Adler).
Part 2
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) is one of the oldest party in Spain. It is led by Pedro Sanchez. In his election platform, he emphasized on passing legislation to boost social spending, raising the minimum wage, and pension payments while also chipping away at the budget deficit. The opposition parties were Partido Popular and Ciudadanos (Citizens Party) (Ellyatt).
Podemos is a minority political party founded in 2014 by Pablo Iglesias. The party focuses on issues such as reducing corruption in the country, unemployment, and other environmental and social injustices. The Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) party forms the main opposition for Podemos (Martinez and Oelsner).
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) won most of the seats (123) in the recent elections as compared to the Podemos party, which won 42 seats. The right wing only managed to get a total of 147 seats with 66 being from the Popular Party, 57 from Ciudadanos, and 24 from Vox. The left wing are missing ten seats to reach the majority after the PSOE won 123 seats, Unidas Podemos 35, and Catalonia’s En Comú Podemos got seven seats, which totals to 165 (Martinez and Oelsner). According to demographic party support, the left wing won more seats than the right wing.
Works Cited
Adler, Katya. Spain’s general election: What just happened? 29 April 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48088597. 29 April 2019.
Ellyatt, Holly. ain’s socialists were ‘irresponsible’ to talk to Catalan separatists, opposition leader says. 21 February 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/spains-socialists-were-irresponsible-to-talk-to-catalan-separatists-opposition-leader-says.html. 29 April 2019.
Martinez, Marta Rodriguez and Natalia Oelsner. What are the possible coalitions in Spain after the elections? 29 April 2019. https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/29/what-are-the-possible-coalitions-in-spain-after-the-elections. 30 April 2019.
TRT World. The five most important issues you need to known about Spain’s election. 28 April 2019. https://www.trtworld.com/europe/the-five-most-important-issues-you-need-to-known-about-spain-s-election-26206. 29 April 2019.