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SEVILLE, Spain (UPDATED) – Andalusia, one of the poorest parts of Spain, held a regional vote Sunday, March 22, seen as a key test of anti-austerity party Podemos ahead of the country’s most unpredictable general election in decades.
Recent years of recession and corruption scandals make the southern region of farms and tourist beaches a prime testing ground for Spain’s new political dynamic, transformed by the economic crisis and ensuing budget austerity measures.
“Everything is ready to fill the ballot boxes with mauve!” Podemos said on its Twitter account, referring to the party color.
“Andalusia is reclaiming the pulse of change,” Podemos’s Andalusia candidate Teresa Rodriguez said on her personal Twitter page, as she posted a photograph of herself casting her ballot.
The election is an important warm-up for Podemos – which is looking to match the feat of its ally Syriza in Greece – and another upstart, the center-right Ciudadanos.
“It’s an important test of all the options we just didn’t have up until now,” said Ismail Abiles, a 57-year-old civil servant as he cast his vote.
The main opposition Socialist Party, in power in Andalusia since 1982, is seeking re-election against the conservative Popular Party, which governs nationally.
The two parties that have taken turns to govern Spain since the 1980s face the rival pair of surging protest movements in a dress rehearsal for national polls due around November.
Greece’s Syriza won elections in January on a wave of discontent about painful cuts imposed during economic crisis – the same trend that has pushed Podemos to the top of the polls in Spain.
Podemos was buoyed by Syriza’s victory, but was given pause for thought by the tense ongoing squabbles between the Greek party and European powers over the country’s crippling debt.
Highest unemployment
Figures issued at 1400 GMT appeared to show turnout was “significantly higher” than in the last election, the regional government said.
“Everyone will interpret the results (in Andalusia) as if it were a first round in the general elections,” said Anton Losada, a political scientist at Santiago de Compostela university.
“That is going to happen with the Andalusian election and will happen again with the other local and regional elections in May.”
Polls indicate neither of the main parties – the socialists or the conservatives – will win an absolute majority in the regional parliament from Andalusia’s 6.5 million voters.
The winner may have to strike an alliance with Podemos or Ciudadanos, foreshadowing what coalitions may later be forged to govern Spain.
Andalusia was among the regions hardest hit by the collapse of Spain’s housing market and ensuing financial crisis in 2008. Its regional unemployment rate is the highest in Europe at 34.2%.
Socialist leaders there, along with some union representatives, have been hit by a series of corruption scandals.
The Socialists have fallen out with their current coalition partners, the United Left, and look set to lose seats in Sunday’s vote, according to polls.
The Popular Party is also losing support there, blamed by voters for hardship under the economic cuts its national government has imposed.
Enter Podemos and Ciudadanos, which rank 3rd and 4th in polls of voting intentions in Andalusia with around 11% and 15% of the vote respectively.
Highest Unemployment
Formed just in January 2014, Podemos has also topped recent national polls.
Its pony-tailed leader Pablo Iglesias, 36, vows to end austerity and do away with what he brands a corrupt political elite.
But his alleged links to Venezuelan leaders – regular bogeymen in the Spanish media – and his support for Syriza threaten to put off some voters.
Ready to scoop them up is Ciudadanos, which started as a Catalan anti-independence party and then expanded onto the national stage in recent months. It shares Podemos’ stance against corruption but strikes a more moderate tone.
“In Ciudadanos, we want justice. What Podemos wants is revenge,” said Ciudadanos’ leader Albert Rivera, 35, in an interview in El Mundo newspaper this March.
“We could have a more diverse Andalusian parliament, with new political forces getting in, and their support could become necessary to govern,” said Jaime Ferri Dura, a political scientist at Madrid’s Complutense University. – Elodie Cuzin, Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
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