Madrid: Just days after a shock Brexit, Spaniards voted in repeat elections on Sunday to decide if they too want a radical shift as promised by a far-left coalition led by Podemos. The election pits those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spain’s slow economic recovery.
Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union has further exacerbated this division. The outgoing conservative Popular Party is insisting on the need for “stability” in the face of “populism” — a thinly-veiled dig at the Unidos Podemos coalition. Voters have the choice between four major political groupings after the emergence of Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudadanos last year uprooted the country’s two-party dominance.
The failure to agree on a coalition last December prompted Sunday’s repeat vote. Pre-Brexit opinion polls suggested the results on Sunday would also be fractured, with the PP coming first without a majority.
