Snap election in Spain: the battle for votes begins
The election campaign for Spain's general election, which has been brought forward to 23 July, has begun. The conservative Popular Party (PP), which was the big winner of the recent local elections, remains silent on whether it would form a coalition with the far-right Vox. Its main focus is to topple Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Socialists. Sánchez is seeking to rally the support of left-wing voters with warnings about Vox.
Bringing Sánchez down is not a government programme
El País is annoyed by the PP's campaign:
“[PP leader] Alberto Núñez Feijóo's slogan 'Spain or Sánchez' is dangerous. It is reminiscent of theworst chapters in Spain's history because it labels half of Spain as anti-Spain. ... The Spain of 2023, however, needs a government that is capable of representing the politically fragmented majority which coexists with its different views. ... In these times of geopolitical, health and economic upheavals the government has pursued a social democratic policy of redistributing wealth in line with Brussels' guidelines. The economic data are clearly positive. ... Bringing Sánchez down is not a government programme.”
Alliance against the right as a last resort?
Svenska Dagbladet sees Sánchez's strategy of rallying the left-wing parties with warnings about the far right as daring:
“Sánchez has launched a campaign aimed at portraying the PP's right-wing partner Vox as fascist. If he succeeds in steering the debate towards fascism, he has a chance of surviving politically. He knows he is deeply unpopular even among the left, but that left-leaning voters will be 'forced' to vote for him as the lesser evil. ... Political commentators on both the right and the left must grudgingly admire Sánchez's plan to save Sánchez.”
PP and Vox have lost the battle of ideas
eldiario.es laments voters' short memories:
“Regardless of what has happened in the last four years, everything will be decided in a fortnight. ... If voters turned their attention for one moment to the number of people in work (the highest in history), the lowest inflation in Europe, Spain's international status, they would say that they are happy with all this. ... That's what they say in the polls, including the PP's voters: the majority of them support the increase in pensions and the minimum wage. The objective here is to make them forget that they are happy with the situation. After realising that they've lost the battle of ideas, the right and the far right now do anything they can to create a stir.”