Spanish elections and politics

[RodPresident]

Does it actually matter which party has a plurality of seats in a given municipality? isn't it all about who can form a coalition? If PP has the largest number of seats, what happens if PSOE, Podemos and other leftwing parties have a majority?

Yes. In case that no party or coalition of parties get a majority, the party with the largest number of seats gets the mayoralty. If PP gets a plurality of seats in the city of Madrid only a coalition of parties with a majority in the council can elect another mayor. In regional assemblies candidates need a majority to pass the investiture in the first vote.

In 1989, third-placed CDS got Madrid's mayoralty with PP's support.

[RodPresident]

Possibly they have noted what happened with the LibDems. The discredit of PP due to corruption scandals is another factor, in all likelihood much more important. In that regard, there's not an analogous situation in the UK.

Navarra Podemos alliance with Bildu and Geroa Bai can provide a narrative legitimizing Ciudadanos' alliance with PP.

[RodPresident]

Any chance if CSP gets a good second place or first of getting to form government with support of PSC, CUP and C's?

[RodPresident]

Back to PSOE+Podemos 160  PP-C 162

You should put Unidad Popular with left-wing bloc.
Kingmakers will be Catalonian separatists.

[RodPresident]

Basque Country (99.9%)
EAJ/PNV 29; EH Bildu 17; Podemos 11; PSE-EE 9; PP 9

Galicia (95.4%)
PP 41; En Marea 14; PSOE 14; BNG 6

Massive failure for anti-PP opposition. Problems inside En Marea between En Marea, Anova and Podemos barred a large breakthrough and Feijóo was able to separate from national PP.

[RodPresident]

CeC: 77%
ERC: 75%
CUP: 74%
PSC: 69%
JxC: 61%
C's: 59%
PP: 40%
Probably, I'd vote for CeC-P, but in order to prevent any embarrasments to Podemos, I'd vote to CUP to ensure an majority against C's and P and to push ERC-JxC coalition to left.

[RodPresident]

Nice map of Barcelona

http://www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcelona/20171223/433819814761/resultados-elecciones-catalanas-barcelona-barrios-vecinos.html

EDIT : Ara.cat's is better

https://www.ara.cat/eleccions21d/resultats-21D-Barcelona-seccions-censals_0_1928807264.html#rlabs=1%20p$1

It's fun that La Barceloneta is a ERC land... But seeing this map, Colau will have a hard time to be reelected. In local politics, can parties go over "Constitutionalist vs. Independentists" fight?

[RodPresident]

I don't know how this will end, seriously.  

52.0% Anti-Independence (50.5 in 2015)
47.5% Pró Independence (47.8 )

Tack, in TVE i heard some guy saying that Catalonia doesn't have an electoral law. Is that true?

Are CeC really anti-independence?  Given a choice of joining forces with C PP or independence it might be a tossup I would think.

From what i've heard, CeC, or Podemos, are neither pro or anti independence. They also got punished for their lack of position.

That is my understanding as well. They are in favor of a referendum and opposed to direct rule, but also anti-independence. They have had leaders who are pro-independence, however, but the national party has prevented the local party from endorsing independence. It *might* be possible for the independence parties to get CeC on their side to hold yet another referendum, but I can't see why the central Spanish government would react differently to a new referendum anyway, which makes the whole idea a bit pointless. (Although strategically I think it would be the right approach for the Spanish government to support another referendum; this result makes it reasonably clear that a referendum with 80+% turnout would have a result somewhere between Quebec 1995 and Scotland 2014, and a failed referendum would take all of the wind out of the independence parties' sails.)

But for PP-C's the far this thing goes, better to them to retain hegemony in national politics. This will help them against national PSOE who'll have to appease their base in poorer autonomies (Extremadura, Castilla La Mancha, Andalusia) and weaken Podemos who is being caught in this fight.

[RodPresident]

There's kind of a scandal ongoing in Podemos right now. Apparently Pablo Iglesias and his girlfriend Irene Montero (who is also the speaker of the parliamentary group in Congress) and who are expecting babies, have bought a huge and expensive house (worth 660 000€) in the suburbs of Madrid and lots of people are unhappy.

Many are critizising them, saying that they've basically betrayed everything they've stood for until now, or reposting old tweets from Pablo Iglesias himself, with the most common one being "Would you trust someone with a 600 000€ home with the economic policies of this country?" (criticising when then economics minister Luis de Guindos also bought a 600k € home). I've also seen a couple comparisons drawn to former PM Felipe González, who apparently bought a yacht after he left office. Others have also mentioned the expensive wedding of IU leader Alberto Garzón, which apparently cost 100 000€. In other words, a lot.

Keep in mind that Podemos has usually spoken a lot against money in politics, to the point where their MPs limit themselves to 3 times the minimum salary (which would be around 2500€ a month). So now buying a huge and expensive home in a rich neiughbourhood comes off as quite hypocritical from Iglesias.

Is Iglesias well paid by HispanTV? I know he presents two programs there.