• Autonomic elections Wave of resignations of Podemos in the territories due to the "catastrophe" of the elections

The Wall Street Journal devoted an editorial to Spanish politics on Wednesday. The victory of the "center-right in the regional elections" endangers the socialist government, which has forced President Sánchez to advance the general elections.

For the WSJ, the announcement of the electoral advance took everyone by surprise, including senior officials of the Sánchez government, and highlights that the president's electoral bet may aim to avoid an internal rebellion in the PSOE after Sunday's defeat.

The newspaper notes that the conservatives took control of 12 of Spain's 17 regions and more than 8,000 municipalities. "Madrid is now a bastion for the center-right Popular Party," where it "obtained an absolute majority in the Madrid City Council and in the regional Parliament" which "guaranteed the re-election of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the charismatic president of the region."

According to the WSJ editorial, the election took place at a time when the ruling left-wing coalition has struggled to raise taxes on the wealthiest and has "adopted an increasingly intrusive policy on the private economy." He says that "the right to property" has become a political problem, since the Government "tried to limit the price of rents, while being permissive with illegal occupants."

It also refers to the elimination of parental consent to abortion from the age of 16 and that "a sexual consent law defended by the far-left party Podemos" ended up reducing prison sentences for some sex offenders.

The Wall Street Journal considers that although the Spanish left has said after the regional elections that the Popular Party will have to unite with the populist right of Vox to govern and the leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has warned of a "reactionary wave" that would reverse social and environmental advances in Spain, "at the regional level, Vox's influence seems exaggerated." He adds that the Popular Party does not need his support where it has an absolute majority and elsewhere has the support of other center-right parties.

"On Wednesday, Sánchez framed the general election as a choice between a president on Biden's side or Trump's side; on Lula's side or Bolsonaro's side. But if last weekend's vote is any indication, voters are rightly more concerned about the extremism of Spain's ruling left."

  • Pedro Sanchez
  • General Elections

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