Editorial:
Well, here are the results (nationwide, region, province and municipality). The Parliamentary General Elections had a high turnout, but the results have created enormous problems for Spain. You see, nobody won. The Partido Popular (123 seats) and PSOE (90) between them lost five million votes compared with the last elections of 2011. The two new parties did well, but not well enough, with Podemos (a party with a short sell-by date) getting 69 seats, and the Ciudadanos getting a disappointing 40. A majority in Spain is 176 seats, and neither the PP with Ciudadanos, nor the PSOE with Podemos, is enough. The small parties are also equally balanced (the Izquierda Unida fell to just 2 seats). The only apparent accommodation: PP and PSOE in some kind of government of national unity, and that won’t fly with hardly anyone... Meanwhile, the Senate vote saw an increase in the PP: from 108 (2011) to 124, returning them with a majority.
Housing:
‘Why Britons are again dominating the Costa Blanca market’. Article from OPP Today.
From Mark Stücklin’s Spanish Property Insight: ‘Two new studies reveal that sound insulation and home insurance are areas where Spain could do a lot better’ – with this remark: ‘...estimate that around 8.4 million homes in Spain have no home insurance, whilst another ten million homeowners with insurance have no idea how much they are insured for. Of those who do have a home insurance policy, three million of them have no idea who they are insured with...’.
Finance:
Hacienda published on Wednesday their first annual report on those owing over a million euros to the Tax-man. 20 Minutos lists some of them here. This first report carries a total of 345 persons and 4,510 companies. The entire list is here.
More on Abengoa from Wolf Street: ‘Mother of all Shorts: How BlackRock Made a Killing from Spain’s Biggest Ever Corporate Meltdown: Hiring the former CEO and then shorting the shares’.
Politics:
Discussions will be going on to try and form a Government – but the Partido Popular privately admits that this is very difficult to achieve and that they are not against having fresh elections in the spring. ‘...Under Spanish law, the parliament must now convene Jan. 13, the moment when King Felipe VI will start a round of meetings with parties to see who’s in a position to form a government. He must then nominate a candidate. Since the current Spanish constitution was passed in 1978, the king has always nominated the candidate from the party with the most votes, who was then appointed PM by parliamentary vote. An absolute majority is needed in the first round of voting, but a single majority is enough in a second round...’ From The Wall Street Journal. A suggestion comes for a tripartite PP-PSOE-Ciudadanos Government together with a fresh president. See El Español here. Susana Díaz from Andalucía (where the PSOE vote held better than it did elsewhere), is against any agreement between the PSOE and Podemos – and, since better than 25% of the PSOE deputies in the new Parliament are from Andalucía, Pedro Sánchez will have to be careful... Indeed, according to El Español, Susana is plotting to have Pedro throw in the towel as leader of the Socialists, a story which also receives traction with El Diario: ‘The leading PSOE ‘barons’ prepare for Pedro Sánchez exit’. A story at El Ventano meanwhile suggests that Mariano Rajoy may not survive politically either, with help from José María Aznar...
‘Political uprising in Spain shatters illusion of euro-zone recovery’ – a dire warning comes from The Telegraph.
‘...Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias — who formed the party in January 2014 with a group of fellow leftist university lecturers, inspired by the grassroots protest movement ‘Los Indignados’ — hailed the birth of "a new Spain." Addressing supporters in Madrid late Sunday night, Iglesias added: "Spain is not going to be the same again, and we're happy. Our fight against corruption goes ahead."...’. From an article called ‘Resistance is not futile: Spanish elections results cause anti-austerity fever to spread across Europe’ at Sott.net.
Among the new deputies joining Parliament comes Rita Bosaho, Nº 1 on the Podemos list for Alicante. Rita, born in Equatorial Guinea, is Spain’s first black MP. Story here.
The formula used to calculate seats in the parliament is called the D’Hondt System. It is unfair (mathematically speaking) to smaller parties. Each PP seat, for example, took 58,700 votes while a seat for the IU cost 461,000 votes. Indeed, if IU had have ‘gone’ with Podemos, the purple party would have risen by an extra 14 seats. Story at El País.
How much did each seat in the Congreso de los Diputados cost in advertising, promotion and dinners? Podemos: 36,232 euros; PSOE: 98,901€; Ciudadanos: 110,000€; PP: 118,033 euros and IU: 1,300,000€.
The Senate has four senators from each province – thus smaller rural provinces to better than the larger industrial ones. That said – the results for the Senate showed an absolute majority for the PP, with the PSOE holding in second place. Story at Voxpópuli here.
A ‘Tweet’ from Edward Snowden to Podemos: ‘Historic. Imagine a world where elections are more than a choice between one or the other. Congratulations, Spain!’.
From an immigrant association in Madrid: ‘...“This campaign has not mentioned the foreigners (4.4 million live in Spain). There has been nothing, neither good nor bad, said about us. We simply do not exist. Could we generate votes? Not from Immigrants. If someone speaks up for us, then Society disagrees. In our association we have already received several 'threats' and we have been left messages on the door showing that immigrants are to blame for all ills, even for the corruption of the parties.”...’. El Diario has the story here.
Catalonia:
The intransigent CUP may have mellowed slightly, and has now signed a ‘pre-deal’ over social issues, enough perhaps to ‘probably support’ Artur Mas and his JxSí party: a firm decision to arrive after Christmas.
White Elephants:
‘...When it comes to squandering public money on white-elephant projects, Spain is in a league of its own. Its ill-fated infrastructure projects include ghost airports (including one that boasts Europe’s longest runway), high-speed-train stations located slap bang in the middle of nowhere, Valencia’s fast-crumbling City of Arts and Sciences, and hundreds of kilometres of empty toll roads. One way or another, taxpayers end up paying the price, sometimes twice...’. From Wolf Street, discussing the ‘Castor Project’.
Various:
Ecowatch runs a story about the Almería invernaderos called ‘Europe’s Dirty Little Secret: Moroccan Slaves and a ‘Sea of Plastic’’. It is not complementary (nor probably very accurate).
‘The brand new website Childline Andalucia has seen a massive response in its first week of going live. The charity, offering multilingual support to young people, was launched by Manilva mother-of-four Tracey-Leigh Bennett after two years of hard work. “We have had an unprecedented number of people getting in touch, mainly from British expats but also some Spanish and European,” Bennett told The Olive Press’. Story here.
‘Ten nice and historic destinations in Spain’ – poorly written but with great suggestions and photos. From Eye on Spain here.
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