Spanish far right surges in the polls as wave of populism continues to wash over Europe
The Spanish far-right Vox party is expected to become the country’s third-strongest political party when Spain holds its fourth election in as many years on Sunday.
In the last polls published before votes are cast, the anti-immigrant Vox party was predicted to win 40 seats in Spain’s 350-seat parliament.
Predictions show the election is unlikely to act as a remedy for the political deadlock in Spain, with neither of the country’s left-wing or rightwing blocs predicted to win a majority.
There are only three percentage points separating the blocs, according to polls.
But amid the longstanding political impasse, the polls also show a sizeable minority – about 35 per cent of Spanish voters – remain undecided.
The party of acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez, the left-wing Socialist Workers’ Party, is expected to remain the largest in parliament, despite the likelihood the party will lose seats.
The party looks set to win 120 seats with the right-wing Popular Party increasing its seats from 66 to 97 seats.
The political reordering has mostly occurred on Spain’s political right, with voters shuffling from the centre-right Citizens party to the PP, while PP voters have in turn been drawn to Vox.
As such, Vox has leapfrogged Citizens party and the far-left United We Can party.
El Mundo described Mr Sanchez’s attempts to win a leftwing majority in parliament as a “full-blown failure”.
Legislative deadlock in the country could be avoided by the creation of a grand centre coalition between the two main parties. However, there seems little appetite for that kind of parliamentary arrangement.
Two key issues, unrest over Catalan independence and the exhumation of the remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, dominated Spain’s election debate.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal, an outspoken politician from the Basque Country, railed against the decision to move Franco’s remains from the basilica of the Valley of the Fallen, a national monument carved into a mountain about 50 kilometres from Madrid, to a private family vault.
The Spanish government said the country should not glorify Franco’s reign.
A recent poll found that about 35 per cent of Spanish voters disagreed with the removal of Franco’s remains.
Similarly, Mr Abascal has capitalised on unrest in Barcelona by promising that his party would rein in devolution across Spain.
Demonstrations, characterised by violent clashes between police and protesters, erupted in Barcelona last month after the Spanish Supreme Court jailed nine Catalan leaders for their roles in a failed bid for secession from Spain in 2017.
With right-wing parties across Europe capitalising on anti-immigrant and antiestablishment sentiment, in Sweden the country’s far-right Sweden Democrats appear poised to become the largest political force.
The party dominates local government in the southern Swedish town of Solvesborg and has banned children from wearing headscarves in kindergartens in the town, while also putting a moratorium on the purchase of “provocative” or “challenging” public art.
The moves have gained the party political support, raising its profile across the country.
Polls show that Spain’s anti-immigrant Vox party is predicted to win 40 seats in the country’s 350-seat parliament