Good possibility of yet another Spanish general election

AS KING Felipe goes through the motions of speaking to each political party with a view to forming a new government in Spain, it appears that once again Mr Rajoy is reluctant to put himself and his party forward officially as, even with the support of Ciudadanos, he is still unlikely to be successful, as both PSOE and Podemos could vote him down or, in the unlikely event that they don’t, he would be the leader of a minority government that could be voted out at any time.

Unless or until Mr Rajoy decides to ‘fall on his sword’ and allow a new leader to take over the Partido Popular (most likely Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón) then it seems that there will be a continued stalemate, which might actually suit the interim ruling party as they can effectively do as they wish without meaningful interference from the opposition.

So bizarre is the situation that a date for a third election is being muted as November 27 and it is just possible that Spanish voters might continue the drift to the PP just to see a government with a majority finally in power. Also, under the Spanish constitution which sees each party paid a certain amount for each vote placed in its favour, and a lump sum for each Member of Parliament, the PP would expect to make at least a further €2 million profit.

There is, however, one very large elephant in the PP room which harks back to an admission made by the party in 2013 when it confirmed that it wiped all of the hard discs of computers used by former Treasurer Luis Bárcenas. Now, three years later, a judge in Madrid has decided that this was potentially a criminal act and that the PP should be held responsible for not acting to stop this from happening.

Therefore there are to be proceedings against the current Treasurer of the PP, its lawyer, its head of IT and, most damagingly, the party itself as the wiping of the hard drives may well have removed information pertinent to a criminal investigation.

All in all, the situation appears to be somewhat fluid to say the least and chaotic to say the worst. Matters concerning the future of the government of Spain will become clearer in the coming weeks, although there is every chance that the only certainty will be continued uncertainty.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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