As Spain Votes, Can Podemos Shine Light Amid Brexit Blackness?

October 3, 2020News

It appears that Spain’s government will remain deadlocked after the leading political parties, including the ascendant leftist coalition Unidos Podemos, failed to win enough votes to secure a majority government.

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The Guardian reports:

Seeking a spark of light in the darkness that followed this week’s Brexit vote, the European left has its attention firmly fixed on the Spanish election Sunday, where a coalition led by the populist Podemos Party could upend the conservative establishment and breath new hope into a continental movement.

The Unidos Podemos coalition, which includes the radical leftist party along with communists and greens, is expected to make big gains in the repeat elections, but it is unclear if they will win enough votes to unseat Prime Minister and Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy.

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In recent days, Unidos Podemos surpassed the Socialists in the polls, shattering the historic two-party dominance and threatening the chances of a possible establishment majority. AFP explains:

And for the Left particularly, the stakes are high, coming just days after voters the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union, which triggered similar referendum’s across Europe and has thrown Britain’s opposition Labour Party into complete disarray.

“This is a crucial time for the Left. Our time has come. We have an opportunity for change,” said Unidos Podemos supporter Carlos Martinez.

Writing for Jacobin, Pablo Castaño Tierno notes that “success for the Left in Spain would have an impact across Europe”:

Castaño Tierno concludes that a Unidos Podemos electoral success would “be a great step forward for the ensemble of European progressive and radical forces, and a source a hope across the continent.”