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Spain suffers its own “populist moment”
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has re-elected Pedro Sánchez as leader with 50% of the votes.
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The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) has re-elected Pedro Snchez as leader with 50% of the votes, just eight months after he was ousted from the post in a power struggle with rival leaders. He takes back control of a party in severe difficulties that has lost the past three general elections. When Spain's housing and credit bubble burst in 2008, the left-wing PSOE, which was then in government, was forced to take unpopular measures. It has since lost almost half of its traditional voters to the far-left party Podemos.
Snchez is expected to respond by shifting PSOE further to the left. Hence his victory "places the PSOE in one of the most difficult situations in its long history", says El Pas. "The return of a secretary general with such a legacy of electoral defeat [and] ideological swings can't but be cause for... concern Spain has finally suffered its own populist moment."
Those fears may be overdone, says Marcus Ashworth on Bloomberg Gadfly."It's unlikely Sanchez will have much impact, at least in the near-term Neither he nor his party are opponents of the European project, so he isn't an existential challenge to the EU like Marine Le Pen."
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Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
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Still, it raises questions about the future of the minority government of Mariano Rajoy and the conservative People's Party, which depend on support from PSOE, says Diego Torres on Politico. Snchez "refused to endorse" Rajoy and his win now promises a "tougher stance", which Rajoy is unlikely to accept. Hence Spain may soon be heading for an early general election.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.
Alice is now Consumer Editor at The Sun and covers everything from energy bills to Social Security.
