Sensible votes on healthcare, jobs and liberty beat divisive ideological rants in Madrid election
84% of voters in Madrid did not choose the confrontational rhetoric of Vox and Podemos. Ayuso almost wins a conservative majority.
The news last night in Madrid was the resignation of Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias from Spanish politics. Gone from national government, gone from Congress, gone from Madrid, gone from the party. Out. On the left, the rise of Más Madrid is notable. Led regionally by a doctor, Mónica García, who has spent the past year struggling against Covid on the front line, and nationally by Iñigo Errejón, Iglesias's former partner and then rival in Podemos, they have grabbed leadership of the opposition from the Socialist Party. It would have been difficult for the PSOE to field a duller candidate, Gabilondo, who deserves to have lost more than ten points and thirteen seats.
Ayuso and the PP, who called the snap election after a cross-bench back-stabbing operation in Murcia tried to wrestle regional power from her colleague López Miras here, were expected to win and did win, resoundingly, taking their party back to levels of support last seen 10 years ago. Almost a majority. Vox managed to increase its share of the vote slightly and take one more seat. Ciudadanos, which did not win more than 5% of the vote, disappears from the regional chamber, following the mess in Murcia and the elections in Catalonia, where it lost 30 out of 36 seats.
Support for the right as a whole has increased by 6.5 points this year in Madrid. Has that been driven by Covid fears over the past year, Ayuso's campaign for "liberty" or a desire to punish Sánchez for pandemic mis-management nationally? Ciudadanos as a centre party (after starting on the centre left and being firmly on the right not so long ago) has disappeard but extremism did not win or increase notably on the left or the right. Despite all of the angry, divisive rhetoric during a bitter campaign, at rallies and on social media, Vox and Podemos are still fringe options below 10% on either side. Voters in Madrid are rightly more concerned about healthcare and jobs right now than ideological rants.
Will Errejón be able to capitalise on his rise on the left in Madrid on a national level, perhaps via a strategic shift to a "green party" option? Will Ayuso capitalise on her victory to challenge Casado for the national leadership of the PP, perhaps with a chance of becoming Spain's first female Prime Minister? How will Sánchez readjust his left-wing coalition to manage the Covid billions from Europe now Iglesias is out of the picture? Will Vox continue with its polarising, demanding and frequently racist messaging or will Abascal realise that strategy has its limits among the Spanish electorate? Will political leaders across the spectrum now learn to be more constructive and cooperative in their fragmented parliaments?
Readers guarantee this independent journalism 100%: https://www.thespainreport.es/value/guarantee