Spain hums along to tune of ‘pop’ politics

EXHIBITIONISM SEEN ATTRACTING HUGE VOTER TURNOUT IN DECEMBER 20 POLLS

The arrival of new parties with young, connected leaders has thrown Spain’s election campaign into rock ‘n’ roll mode as voters better used to staid politics discover their candidates singing on TV, posing in glossies or commenting live football.

Anti-austerity party Podemos and centrist grouping Ciudadanos burst onto the scene on the back of a devastating crisis that left many citizens fed up with mainstream politics, and polls indicate they will attract a huge number of votes in December 20 general elections.

At home both on chat shows and social networks, their 30-something leaders are a constant presence in Spanish households, forcing even the country’s stern, distant prime minister to turn a new leaf and embrace US-style pop politics.

“It’s exhibitionism,” complains Iker Merodio, founder of political communication firm Soluciones Comunicativas. “This campaign is more televised [than previous ones], but not necessarily for the best, because what we see doesn’t necessarily mean a valuable political point will be announced.”

And so it was that Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed, 37-year-old Podemos leader, took out his guitar and strung a tune dedicated to “all those women who are with idiots and should leave them” on a popular talk show. Or that Albert Rivera, the telegenic, 36-year-old head of Ciudadanos, posed for Glamour magazine in a black leather jacket, his motorcycle helmet in hand.

And this “exhibitionism” — as well as the parties’ promise of change — have had their effect, with polls predicting that Ciudadanos will give the long-established ruling Popular party (PP) and PSOE (Socialists) a run for their money at the elections, with Podemos not far behind.

Forced to adapt

Even the conservative PP has had to adapt. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, for instance, was seen emulating Michelle Obama on a chat show, performing a choreographed dance to Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk.

But perhaps most surprising of all, Mariano Rajoy himself, the 60-year-old prime minister who is running for re-election, has suddenly embraced television.

The man who once conducted press briefings via a plasma screen has sat down on the couch of TV host Bertin Osborne for a heart-to-heart — divulging such titbits as the time he bumped into Barack Obama in a South African gym — and provided football commentary live on radio.