Spanish elections and politics III / Pedro Sánchez faces a new term as PM

[CumbrianLefty]

The Spanish Right know full well internments without fair trials and excessive punishments only make the crisis worse. That is what they want though. They want people to believe Spain is on the brink of dissolution and communist revolution because its a much simpler message than reconciliation, and it wins them votes.

Why is pure nihilistic cynicism maybe *the* defining characteristic of so much of the right these days?

[CumbrianLefty]

A depressing result, but truth be told Andalusia has been trending right for a while now - and maybe its leading PSOE figure for so long being Spain's equivalent of Liz Kendall wasn't an unalloyed good.

[CumbrianLefty]

Don't follow Spanish politics as closely as some do, but my guess is Sanchez probably figured odds of winning were very low so better to go early before PP and Vox had time to plan everything and catch them off guard.  Likely won't save him from defeat though.  This year in Europe has definitely been good for right gaining Finland, likely majority in Greece, and probably soon Spain as well as Sweden last fall.  Actually seems left outside English speaking countries doing horrible in Europe with UK & Ireland only two seem to be looking good.

Finland and Sweden were hardly massive surges to the right though, were they? And in the latter the Social Democrats are now polling higher than they have for years - I wonder if something similar can happen in Spain once the original sugar rush (assuming that happens) of dumping Sanchez fades, to be replaced by a PP/Vox government that could become very unpopular very soon.

[CumbrianLefty]

Vox and Frente Obrero share a sacred mission; Recover Spain

Something horseshoe theory something something

[CumbrianLefty]

European politics nowadays is very depressive. Especially Southern Europe.

Just in Europe?

And it has the same underlying cause really - much of the right becoming a "post truth" movement.

[CumbrianLefty]

How powerful is the senate? If the right controls that body does it screw over Sanchez?

Not very, appears to be the simplified answer.

The electoral system there giving the PP an overall majority has raised some eyebrows.

[CumbrianLefty]

Which seems reasonable enough, it is fair to say this PP "gain" wasn't terribly expected?

[CumbrianLefty]

As so often, a quick apology ("I got carried away, blah blah") and he would probably have got away with it. Its the thinking they have nothing to apologise *for*, that is so often the tell.

[CumbrianLefty]

They actually did the Nazi salute and started singing the hymn of the blue division lol.

Any PSOE loses due to the amnesty will likely be mitigated by the sheer polarization (I have seen it first hand among Spaniards). Honestly, Sánchez is either the luckiest man alive or just an evil mastermind.

Yes, this is all only going to make many voters more determined not to give Vox even a sniff of power.

[CumbrianLefty]

What is "the Russian role in the Catalan separatist process" exactly?

[CumbrianLefty]

Whatever you think about exactly how he has done this, it is an impressive achievement nonetheless. Now comes the maybe even more difficult bit - actually governing.