Friday

31st Mar 2023

Spain's traditional two-party system in disarray after EU vote

  • Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias - his party, only established early this year, got eight percent of the vote (Photo: Jairo Vargas)

Spain will send the most diverse delegation ever to the European Parliament with its 54 MEPs coming from 10 different political parties.

The country's traditional two-party system took a large knock in Sunday's vote. The governing centre-right Partido Popular lost eight seats compared to 2009 while the opposition Socialists (PSOE) lost nine and received only half the votes it got five years ago.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

PSOE leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Monday he was stepping down due the result – the party's worst ever.

In the 2009 EP election, the two parties together received 81 percent of the votes. This year they got only 49 percent, a development that many commentators in Spain see as being the beginning of the end of the country's two-party system.

The big surprise of the EP election was the new left-wing party Podemos that was created earlier this year, born out of the indignation movement that occupied city squares across Spain in 2011.

Podemos emerged as the fourth party, garnering eight percent of the votes and five new MEPs. The party is expected to group up with Greece's Syriza in the parliament.

The region of Catalonia had a different kind of anti-establishment vote where pro-independence parties got the greatest support. Four of the most-voted parties and coalitions are in favour of a referendum on independence from Spain.

The clear regional winner – Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) – saw its support within the Catalan region rise from 9 percent in 2009 to nearly 23 percent this year.

Party leader Oriol Junqueras said the result was "another step towards the freedom and independence of our country".

The separatist movement managed to engage their voters with a voter turnout of almost 48 percent compared to 37 percent in 2009 in Catalonia alone. The national average was 46 percent, slightly above the EP election five years ago.

The election result is being seen as an indicator of the general elections in Spain next year.

"The Spanish are in general very angry with politicians and with politics – be it municipal or be it European," said José Ignacio Torreblanca Payá, head of the Madrid office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview.

However, Spain's anti-establishment parties – unlike in many EU member states – are not anti-EU.

Years of international isolation during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco is the main reason why Spain has no eurosceptic or anti-EU parties.

After Franco's death, it was Europe that Spain looked towards for democracy and prosperity.

"European integration and democracy is the same thing (for Spain)," says Torreblanca.

Meanwhile Antonia Maria Ruiz Jiménez, sociology professor at Seville's Pablo de Olavide University says that while there is some criticism of the EU's, discussion has never touched on withdrawing from the Union, or even opting out from some of its laws.

"In Spain, political discourse does not hint at the possibility of a threat to national sovereignty as a consequence of integration," she adds.

Spain's EP election campaign kicks off

Small predominantly left-wing parties look set to take EP seats from Spain's governing Partido Popular and the opposition socialists. Nevertheless the two main political players are likely to retain some 30 percent of votes each.

Podemos party co-founder resigns

The Spanish party's number three, Monedero, said it is losing its identity ahead of next Autumn's general election.

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal
  2. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  3. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  4. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  5. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  6. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  7. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries
  8. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us