Sunday is the day of the economy-dominated parliamentary elections in Spain, with the overall mood in the country tense and uncertain, as no candidate is actually offering a comprehensive solution to raging unemployment and financial stagnation.
There are two major parties contending for elections at the moment. The first is the Socialist Party, which has been at the head of the parliament until now, and the popular People’s Party
Most analysts predict that the People’s Party will win the majority of the vote. However, over the last couple of days, at least as RT’s Irina Galushko observed in Madrid, it does not look like that any party will actually get the majority vote. And here is why.
The postcards have been springing up here and there, encouraging people to leave their vote blank. Basically, that serves as an indicator of the fact that people in Spain have become disillusioned with any of the choices they may have on the political table.
The Socialists have been in power for the last several years and today they are essentially blamed for not noticing the economic downturn, for not reacting to the crisis properly thus plunging Spain into economic turmoil.
Spain is notorious for having the highest unemployment rate in Europe, more than 24 per cent. In September alone 4,000 people were losing their jobs every single day.
More than 5 million people in the country do not have a wage provider for their homes.
When you look at this extremely bleak situation in the country, a lot of people believe the elections will not make a difference.
Hence, while there have been numerous protests out on the streets of people from all walks of life – workers, students, professors – all have been pushed towards protest and they have been essentially saying that none of the choices they are being offered as political options are satisfactory.