Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504427
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 JULY 2023 NEWS NEWS ANALYSIS POLLS had shown the Span- ish Popular Party led by Nunez Feijoo on the verge of winning a majority of seats in alliance with the far-right Vox. Feijoo and his party are mem- bers of the centre right Euro- pean People's Party and allies of the local Nationalist Party. But when the Spanish elec- tion results were out, the PP and Vox could only garner 169 seats between them falling short of the 176 needed for a majority. While the PP has emerged as Spain's largest party with 132 seats in the 350-seat par- liament, it is the Socialist Pe- dro Sanchez who has the best chance of cobbling a winning coalition. It will still not be easy for Sanchez, who must renew his alliance with the left-wing Su- mar and secure the support of an assortment of regional parties. The alternative to that would be another election in December. This suggests that Pedro Sanchez's gamble of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by calling an election in May in the wake of major victories for the right in local elections, has so far paid off. By forging regional coali- tions with Vox, the PP not only turned off younger and more liberal voters but also ener- gised the left-wing vote which found a raison d'etre in its de- fence of modernity against an onslaught of cultural conserv- atism. This enabled Sanchez to frame the elections as a stark choice between "progress and backwardness" and "the future over the past." On the other hand, the PP could not frame the elections as a choice between different economic and fiscal policies. Instead with polls suggesting that Vox would emerge as king makers, attention was drawn to the Vox manifesto, char- acterised by commitments to repeal abortion and euthanasia laws and which downplayed climate change. The party also promised to repeal a gender identity law which allows transgender peo- ple aged 14 and over to change their legal gender without the need for psychological or other medical evaluation, and even the repeal of gender violence laws and their replacement with laws "which protects every possible victim of vio- lence in a domestic setting." The focus on culture wars was also somewhat inevitable in view of low inflation figures and popular approval for the ruling coalition's social poli- cies which including a raise in the minimum wage pushed by the ruling coalition. But the PP could still project itself as a guarantee of stabil- ity to a weak coalition which depended on the support of an assortment of left wing and separatist parties to govern. But with Sumar led by the pragmatic and popular deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz replacing the more intransi- gent Podemos, it was Vox's radicalism on social issues which attracted most atten- tion. Moreover, while Vox was cat- apulted to the national scene in the wake of state repression following an outlawed Catalan referendum on independence in 2017, its ultra-nationalism is now a major stumbling block for alliances with regional par- ties in both Catalonia and the Basque country, which the PP needs to govern. And while other far right movements like Meloni's Brothers of Italy have down- played issues like abortion to capitalise on the anti-immi- gration vote, Vox is more de- Flirting with the devil Elections in Spain come as a warning to the European centre- right that f lirting with the far right's culture wars can be a turn off for women and younger voters, says JAMES DEBONO in his analysis of the reverberations of the Spanish election results Incumbent Pedro Sánchez is poised to remain the Spanish prime minister By forging regional coalitions with Vox, the PP not only turned off younger and more liberal voters but also energised the left- wing vote which found a raison d'etre in its defence of modernity against an onslaught of cultural conservatism