Spanish Politics Today in 2023

Spain is currently facing an unpredictable political environment characterized by conflict. Municipal and regional elections will take place this May while general elections will take place later in December.

Congress of Deputies, Spain’s lower chamber parliament, is elected every four years through multi-member constituencies in multi-year terms. Furthermore, additional legislative power lies with autonomous community legislatures known as Cortes Generales.

Political parties

In Spain, the executive branch of government is known as “the Government”. It consists of a prime minister (presidente del gobierno), one or more deputy prime ministers and all ministers. Together these compose “The Government”, responsible for driving both internal and external policies of Spain.

The Congress of Deputies serves as Spain’s legislative branch. Comprised of 350 elected multimember constituency representatives elected through multimember constituencies, its lower house represents Spain’s 17 regions and two enclaves and serves four-year terms for members elected into this lower house.

At a regional level, 17 Autonomous Communities (Comunidades Autonomas) approved by the national parliament have been created. Each community has its own legislature and executive branch as well as more authority to determine education, infrastructure and social services in its borders. While in general Spaniards do not trust elected representatives to act in their best interests; around three quarters do not believe politicians care what people like them think, especially older Spaniards – 6 out of 10 of those over 60 say their children will be worse off financially than them!

Socialists

Spanish political life has degenerated into an ugly mess of political bickering, with accusations and counteraccusations coming from all corners. One reason for the rise of Ciudadanos and Podemos may be voter dissatisfaction with major parties (see figure).

At the last general election, both the PP and Socialists received equal amounts of votes; however, due to an unexpected late surge in favour of Sanchez at a late polling booth location in Madrid, his right-wing opponents did not secure majority support and this left him in an uncomfortable situation.

Corrupcion is an increasingly pressing concern among Spanish voters, with over one-quarter perceiving it as one of the primary issues confronting their country. Money from private banking and speculation has transformed many politicians into multimillionaires while nepotism has become part of modern politics.

United We Can, one of Sanchez’s junior coalition partners, has also been embroiled in controversy, with its leader Ana Ayuso criticizing feminists as being like “spoiled brats who want to drink and be alone”, and accusing medical professionals of refusing to work. Furthermore, United We Can is associated with regional secessionist and far-right groups and their bad name only intensified further by this association.

PP

The Popular Party (PP), formed from the right-wing coalition that led Spain from decades of dictatorship into democracy, now appears likely to win most votes but not an absolute majority in Sunday’s national election. Far-right anti-immigrant and separatist VOX party has tripled their share of town councilors to 7.2% while there has also been an internal leadership battle within PP. Leader Pablo Casado was recently ousted over spying claims against him.

Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party gambled on calling a snap general election to remove Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) from power and prevent any coalition with far-right parties like Vox. Unfortunately, it may already be too late to rescue Spain’s economy or reduce poverty levels as voters gave PP a clear lead in two regions and put them in position to govern alone or with anti-immigrant VOX in six others; it may even win national support without needing support from smaller nationalist parties like Ciudadanos who has refused any coalition agreements between it and far-right parties like VoX and Vox.

Vox

Vox is a right-wing populist party that seeks to restore Spain to greatness. Their plan involves deporting legally authorized migrants while barring any who come illegally, opposing abortion and same-sex marriage as well as abortion rights. Critics see Vox as a throwback to dictator Francisco Franco’s era.

Vox supporters in Rascafria tend to focus more on how Vox could challenge Spain’s socialist-PP duopoly than on its ideological extremities, seeing in its platform an opportunity to reduce taxes, decrease government spending and replace autonomous regional police forces (like Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra) with national Guardia Civil. Furthermore, they hope this platform may result in tougher sentencing for rapists and pedophiles.

Many believe the string of corruption scandals plaguing Sanchez’s government have damaged its credibility, prompting many people to demand change. Vox’s ascension would send a strong signal both nationally and across Europe where far right extremism has gained ground; it would send an affirmation message that ultranationalist groups can still gain political sway even in countries with long histories of democratic rule.

Podemos

Spain stands out among European nations as one of the few where new political parties have arisen to challenge voters’ traditional allegiances and ideologies. Since Catalonia’s referendum and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s resignation over a censure motion, support for Podemos has surged; now part of parliament’s lower chamber (Congreso de los Diputados).

Iglesias and his team were sophisticated politicians, employing web tools and participatory methods developed within social movement settings to campaign effectively for voters. But they also relied on traditional tactics like mailbox leafletting, volunteers, and word of mouth for voter outreach.

Notwithstanding Spain’s political earthquakes of 2015 and 2019, they have not significantly altered its patterns of party competition. While electoral volatility caused by these events has certainly had an impactful cleavages have become more salient, they have not altered fundamental issues like new parties gaining national visibility due to no coalition government traditions existing in Spain.