Spanish elections and politics IV / European Parliament campaign, diplomatic crisis with Argentina

[Lumine]

In a weird way, I can sort of respect Carrizosa and company for wanting to go down with the ship at the polls rather than just integrate in PP.

Seems fitting for Ciudadanos to die - I mean it's dead already, but for the purposes of formality - in a last stand in Catalonia.

[Lumine]

I honestly, sincerely cannot name one meaningful ideological difference between Sumar and Podemos. All I see is Podemos' perception of Yolanda Diaz as being too "moderate" and too willing to collaborate with Sánchez and PSOE; and Sumar's dismissal of Podemos as being either too caught in the past or being too subservient to Pablo Iglesias.

So yeah, it does seem like a personal feud that leads into an irrational situation. It's increasingly absurd to see so many Spanish left-wing parties to the point of having coalitions within coalitions (like IU within Podemos and now Sumar).

[Lumine]

Pedro Sánchez might resign.  This seems to be related to corruption allegations against his wife.

Never say never of course, but this is the man who refused to quit after being defenestrated by the PSOE barons - they're all gone, even Diaz -, who kept at it through successive electoral failure until he got into power - Rajoy, Iglesias and Rivera are all long gone too - and who has stubbornly clung to power against all the odds.

So yeah. Could be, but I sincerely doubt Sánchez has put himself through so many things since 2015 to suddenly quit and go out with a whimper.

[Lumine]

If there's a pro independence majority that requires Alianca Catalana to work, it's going to be quite a sight to see ERC - and maybe even the CUP - squirm.

But I suppose some combination of PSC-ERC-COM would be the most likely scenario?

[Lumine]

What the heck were the voter flows like? Why did Puigdemont's party gain support while the separatist parties on the left lost instead? I guess C's voters probably moved to PP, but I'm having some trouble making sense of this all because I know little about Catalonian politics.

Never ask a woman her age,
Never ask a man his salary,
And never ask a Catalonian swing voter how he's voted since 2015

[Lumine]

Not to justify Milei's erratic and often childish behavior, but if Sánchez's own ministers are going to be the ones hurling insults at him first... can the Spanish government really claim a moral high ground here? I'm not that convinced myself.