Spain holds most open election for decades

Spain holds most open election for decades

  • 21 minutes ago
    •  
  • From the sectionEurope
PM Mariano Rajoy, 20 DecImage copyrightReuters
Image captionPrime Minister Mariano Rajoy casts his ballot in Madrid
Spaniards are voting in a landmark election that will see more than two parties compete for power for the first time in decades.
Newcomers Podemos, an anti-austerity party, and Citizens, a liberal party, are challenging the ruling Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists.
Opinion polls have suggested PM Mariano Rajoy's PP is narrowly ahead.
While he has been in power, Spain has emerged from a financial crisis into a period of economic growth.
The conservative PP currently has a majority in Spain's lower house of parliament.
New parties Citizens and Podemos are fielding national candidates for the first time.
Media captionTwo new political parties in Spain hope to do well in Sunday's general election. Tom Burridge analyses their rise to frontline politics
The BBC's Tom Burridge in Madrid says both look set to take a take a large chunk of the vote, ending the power monopoly of Spain's traditional heavyweights.
It is almost certain that no party will get a majority of MPs in parliament, our correspondent says, meaning some form of coalition will have to be agreed.
Polling stations opened at 09:00 local time (08:00 GMT) and close at 19:00 GMT. Exit polls are expected minutes afterwards and complete results are due two days later.

Return to growth

The economy, corruption allegations and a separatist drive in the prosperous north-eastern region of Catalonia have been the dominant issues in the election.

The candidates, in quotes

Spanish party leaders from L to R: Pablo Iglesias, Pedro Sanchez, Albert Rivera and Mariano RajoyImage copyrightGetty Images
Image captionFrom L to R: Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, Albert Rivera of Citizens and PP leader Mariano Rajoy
Pablo Iglesias, 37, university lecturer, leader of new anti-capitalist party Podemos: "The problem isn't Greece, the problem is Europe. Germany and the IMF are destroying the political project of Europe"
Pedro Sanchez, 43, academic, leader of established Socialist party (PSOE): "The head of the government, Mr Rajoy, has to be a decent person, and you are not"
Albert Rivera, 36, lawyer and former competitive swimmer, leader of new Citizens(Ciudadanos) party: "They [Podemos] blame the system - we blame the people who have corrupted the system"
Mariano Rajoy, 60, prime minister and leader of established, conservative Popular Party: "Who today is talking about bailout Spain? No-one"
Mr Rajoy's administration adopted unpopular austerity measures and job reforms that have been credited with returning the Spanish economy to growth.
However, unemployment remains high at 21%, the second-highest rate in the EU after Greece, although it has fallen from its 2013 peak of 27%.
The PP has also been damaged by corruption scandals.
The central government in Madrid has also had to contend with an attempt by Catalonia to break away from the rest of Spain.
Pro-independence parties in Catalonia won an absolute majority in regional elections in September and a month later passed a motion to begin the process of declaring independence.
People sit at the terrace of a coffee shop during the day of reflection ahead of Spain's general election in RondaImage copyrightReuters
Image captionPolls say up to 40% of voters do not know who they will vote for
Spain's Constitutional Court has revoked that motion, but Catalonia's leaders said they would ignore it.
Mr Rajoy has vowed to quash the threat to Spanish unity, but other parties favour negotiations to devolve more power to the region, which accounts for about a fifth of Spain's economic output.
Mr Rajoy has also raised questions about his future by including his deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, on campaign posters and fielding her in his place during a leaders TV debate.
His campaigning has also not been easy - a teenager punched him in the faceduring a visit to the town of Pontevedra in the north-west.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Utah Mormons, Protestants finding new spiritual home in ancient Orthodox church

By  BOB MIMS   |   The Salt Lake Tribune The Salt Lake Tribune It shook the fundamentalist Christian world to its roots:  Hank Hanegraaff , the darling of evangelicals as host of the long-running, nationally syndicated "Bible Answer Man" broadcast, had joined the Greek Orthodox Church. Hanegraaff, for nearly 30 years president of the Christian Research Institute, an evangelical apologetics ministry, also has written 20 books opposing purported cults and heresies and non-Christian faiths. If ever evangelicals had a doctrinal superhero, Hanegraaff was he. But on Palm Sunday,  in a video released via social media , there was the 67-year-old Hanegraaff kneeling for "Holy Chrismation" — a rite of anointing with oil accompanying baptism — inside  St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church  of Charlotte, N.C. Within days, Bott Radio Network, a 107-station strong, evangelical broadcasting empire, severed its longstanding relationship with him; other criti...
Read more

επιλογές .....κεφαλονίτικα ανέκδοτα

Κεφαλονίτικα ανέκδοτα Συζητούν τρεις παπάδες, ένας από το Αγιο όρος, ένας από την Αθήνα και ένας Κεφαλονίτης για το πως κατανέμουν τα έσοδα των εκκλησιών τους. Λέει ο παπάς από το Αγιο όρος: «Εγώ Πετάω στον αέρα όλα τα νομίσματα και όσα έρθουν κορώνα είναι του Θεού και τα δίνω για τις ανάγκες της εκκλησίας και όσα έρθουν γράμματα είναι δικά μου». Λέει ο Αθηναίος παπάς: «Και εγώ πετάω τα νομίσματα στον αέρα και όσα σταθούν όρθια είναι του Θεού και της εκκλησίας, όσα πέσουν στο πλάι (κορώνα ή γράμματα) είναι σαφώς δικά μου». Και στο τέλος ο Κεφαλονίτης ο παπάς: «Εγώ κύριοι συνάδελφοι κάνω το ίδιο που κάνετε και εσείς με πιο απλές διαδικασίες για να μη χάνουμε και χρόνο. Πετάω στον αέρα όλα τα νομίσματα. Όσα θέλει τα κρατάει ο Θεός και όσα πέσουν κάτω είναι δικά μου!» Είναι ένας Κερκυραίος, ένας Κεφαλλονίτης κι ένας Λευκαδίτης, που ξεμονάχιασαν, κάπου σ' ένα αραχνιασμένο, σκοτεινό υπόγειο ένα λυχνάρι, απ' αυτά τα μυστήρια με τα τζίνια. Το τρίψανε και ξεπετάχτηκε το τζίνι. «Έχετε ο...
Read more

EU appreciates Iran's new tone

Image
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in the UN headquarters in New York AFP Van Rompuy says concrete steps also needed EU appreciates Iran's new tone by NEOnline 26/09/2013 - 8:45pm EU President Herman Van Ropuy met with Iran's new head, Hassan Rouhani and said that the bloc appreciates the new tone but also needs concrete steps.  "It was the first time that we met the new President of Iran," Van Rompuy said in a statement. "We told him that we appreciated the new tone, the new language used by him and members of his Government. But in order to rebuild trust -and trust was lacking in the last years in the relations between Iran and the rest of the world - we also need concrete steps, deeds." The EU Council President said that the new Iranian President raised expectations and confirmed that the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China offici...
Read more