The (far-) right vs. regional separatists
Bildu leader Otegi says a PP-Vox coalition nationally “will produce Basque and Catalan independence supporters on an industrial scale”.
Yesterday, 8,000 town and city halls across Spain chose their mayors. Notable incidents included the socialists and conservatives voting together to stop Basque or Catalan separatists controlling Vitoria and Barcelona, and a young man headbutting a Vox councillor as he arrived at the session in Manresa. If we look at maps (here in ABC, for example) that show who is now governing in which provincial capitals, we see some very clear political geography patterns: the right is in charge across almost the whole of Spain that is not affected by regional nationalisms (in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia), and the first PP-Vox conservative-far-right coalitions in provincial capitals are all in inner, land-locked Spain, the geographical centre. The political centre ground, represented until May 28 by Ciudadanos, is gone. This is now a more polarised, identity based map. If the estimates were right, there are now between 100-150 towns and cities in Spain with conservative-far-right councils.
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