Sánchez goes all in on snap general election
Spain gets eight more weeks of polarised populist political rhetoric.
No one expected Sánchez to do that. The election campaign was over, the right had won, Vox had increased its share of the vote and it was time for us all to take an interest in the coalition negotiations between Feijóo and Abascal through to the summer while the coalition government assumed the Presidency of the European Union on behalf of Spain from July 1 until December, when there would be a general election at which, according to yesterday's results, Pedro Sánchez, the socialists and Podemos would lose and the country would go in to a national coalition between the conservatives and the far-right.
"I have informed the Head of State of the decision to call a Cabinet meeting this evening to dissolve Parliament...", Pedro Sánchez announced at around 11:15 this morning. A snap general election. On July 23, with half the country at the beach. So the election campaign is not over. Now we get eight more whole weeks of polarized political rhetoric 24 hours a day on the TV news and social media. It’s a big bet, all or nothing, a bold move in response to a large defeat. Carpe Diem. Alea iacta est. Whatever you do, make it look like you’re advancing. Now TV news this lunchtime will be talking about the Prime Minister’s risky bet instead of right-wing victory laps last night.
Sánchez has drawn level on narrative, although the right maintains the momentum at the ballot box. It seems pretty suicidal given last night’s results.
Faced with the defeat of Podemos and Ciudadanos yesterday, and with all the rhetoric and the incessant talking points that are going to be blasted at us in the coming weeks, starting this very day, who is now left as the protagonist on the left to save Spaniards from "the far-right wolf”? Sánchez. Podemos and Sumar and United Left and the assorted regionalist leftist groups will have zero time to organise anything in their own way as they had planned. Now they will only be able to decide whether to run in the elections together or not, with some kind of simplistic manifesto and message, and see if someone votes for that with what is at stake, and knowing that a divided vote on one side of the left-right split in Spain means more seats for the other side, more far-right wolf in this case. Eight weeks to organize all that is a no time at all from the perspective of the political parties, although for Spaniards at home and in bars, it will drag on painfully and turn the start of the summer into a very long affair indeed.
It remains to be seen if the PM will kick Podemos out of the coalition government in the meantime. That would be the logical move.
Now on July 1, Spain will assume the Presidency of the European Union, in the middle of the war between Russia and Ukraine, with a maximum level of internal political uncertainty. And if those are the stakes and Putin is involved, we will have to be watch out for possible election interference from Moscow. We can assume Sánchez will be the socialist candidate for the elections; that would make sense at the electoral level, at the narrative level and at the level of his own personal interests, but who knows. He at least avoids another six months of the constant erosion of his personal image like this. If he has gone for such an audatious play, it must be the only one left on the table from where he is sitting. By August, when we are on the beach, either we will have Sánchez for another four years or Feijóo will be negotiating his coalition with the far-right and European leaders will be asking questions about what just happened in Spain.
Thanks for reading. Subscribe now:
🔥 Understand the stories changing Spain better
📝 All the articles
💪 Guarantee this independent analysis & commentary
Fabulous article.
Thank you
Thanks for all the updates Matthew!