In Spain, power may change from the left to the right in the upcoming elections

SITGES The Catalan beach town of Sitges has been filled with vacationers. Beach restaurants are full, and they are looking for more workers.

Jobs are available in Spain after difficult years, and the country’s economy is growing despite inflation. However, the good economic situation does not seem to help the current left-wing government in the upcoming parliamentary elections on Sunday.

The polls predict victory for the right-wing people’s party Partido Popular, the far-right party Vox takes third place.

– The direction of Spain must change. That’s why I hope that everyone will vote despite the fact that the election falls on the beginning of the holiday season, says the person spending the day on the beach with his friends Jacobo Abascal.

He enjoyed cold summer drinks at the beach restaurant with his family Rosa Reyes is concerned about immigration.

– I would have nothing against it if educated people, such as doctors and judges, came to Spain.

Reyes believes that this is not currently the case.

In his opinion, Spain is changing, and the direction is bad. He hopes that power will change in Sunday’s elections, but does not reveal the party he intends to vote for.

The right wing has made the prime minister a traitor

Prime Minister, Socialist Party PSOE Pedro Sánchez dissolved the parliament and brought forward the elections scheduled for October after the party lost the regional elections in May.

On Sunday, it will be clear whether Sánchez’s risk-taking paid off.

The Partido Popular, which leads the polls, has promised voters, among other things, tax breaks.

In addition, it has gathered support by launching the term “sanchismo”. Because it has managed to create an image of Pedro Sánchez as a traitor who does not think the best of the Spanish people.

The right-wing has urged Spaniards to choose between Spain and Sánchez. With this, it suggests, among other things, that Sánchez’s left-wing government has the support of Catalan and Basque nationalists pushing for the independence of their regions.

Sánchez also pardoned Catalan leaders jailed over the 2017 independence referendum.

It was too much for the Spaniards, for whom the unity of the country is a sacred thing.

For many, the line of the left-wing government has been too liberal anyway. For example, it has allowed euthanasia and increased the rights of sexual minorities, among other things, by enacting a new translation law.

Rape law became a problem

of the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE the last, published on Monday, Gallup predicts the right-wing People’s Party with 142 seats in Spain’s 350-seat parliament. According to it, the number of seats for the Socialist Prime Minister’s Party will remain at 106.

Spanish law does not allow polls to be published in the final days of an election campaign.

Popularity of the People’s Party has increased even more since Sánchez and the leader of the People’s Party Albert Nuñez Feijoo faced off in a bilateral election debate last week.

Feijoo, who performed aggressively, got on the neck of the visibly nervous and uncertain Prime Minister.

Among other things, Feijoo used the rape law, which is embarrassing for the current government, as a weapon. It was drawn up by the minister for equality representing the left-wing Podemos party in the government Irene Montero.

According to the law, consent is always required for sex. The purpose of the law was to enable sentencing for rape even when the victim was silent or did not resist.

At the same time, however, the punishments of some already convicted sex offenders decreased and some were released when sexual crime categories were combined.

The new left coalition Sumar

The rape law’s loopholes also caused friction within the left-wing ruling party Podemos.

Finally, Podemos’ Minister of Labour Yolanda Diaz founded the left-wing coalition Sumari. Díaz enjoys great popularity in Spain and is respected across party lines.

According to some polls, Sumar may overtake the extreme right to become the third largest party in Spain.

That’s what anyone who eats at a pizzeria on the waterfront hopes for Francisco Carnicer, who plans to vote for Sumari. For him, important themes in the elections are, for example, housing policy and the welfare of young people.

– Our young people should have better future prospects and the right to housing, Carnicer reasons.

Especially in Spain’s biggest cities, rents have run out of reach for many ordinary citizens. In Madrid and Barcelona, ​​the average rent for two-bedroom apartments is already over a thousand euros.

Sumarin Diaz has indeed promised to increase the public building stock and presents everyone over the age of 18 with 20,000 euros in start-up money for studies or work. Income transfer would be financed by taxing millionaires.

The extreme right wants to allow consolidating treatments

In Sitges, which is liberal and known as a favorite destination for sexual minorities, the idea of ​​the extreme right rising to the Spanish government causes fear in many.

– If the extreme right gets into the government, we will go back to the days of Franco, says Carnicer.

He refers to the right-wing dictator who ruled Spain for 40 years to Francisco Franco. The dictatorship ended with Franco’s death in 1975, but some Spaniards value the dictator’s legacy.

Both Vox and the Partido Popular would like to repeal the historical memory lawwhich allows the opening of Franco-era mass graves and the investigation of crimes during the dictatorship.

Vox was successful in the regional elections in May and came to power in numerous autonomous regions, municipalities and cities with the Partido Popular.

It would like to allow reintegration therapy for homosexuals, remove rainbow flags from public buildings and ban gender reassignment surgeries in public health care.

Hate crimes against sexual minorities have increased in Spain in recent years.

– Even if Vox tries to unify all gays, it won’t be able to cancel our rights, believes the real estate agent Toni Freixas.

Albert Nuñez Feijoo, leader of the People’s Party PP, has tried during his campaign to break the nest with the extreme right. Feijoo’s message to the voters is that the People’s Party would ideally rule alone.

However, according to the latest polls, the right-wing People’s Party would not get the number of seats needed for a majority.

In practice, it would be forced into government cooperation with Vox, as support from the prime minister’s party, the Socialists, is unlikely to come.

Vox follows the same line as its fellow Europeans by opposing immigration, combating climate change and being critical of the EU.

That is why the election result of Spain, the country holding the EU presidency, is closely monitored in Brussels as well.