Altea
October 15, 2016
Firstly I want to congratulate your newspaper as it seems the only foreign language one to inform of what is going on in Spain, and more specifically Spanish politics. I know it can be a bore at times, but eventually whatever happens in national politics affects us living here, regardless of our nationality.
This brings me to the point. I’m neither socialist nor conservative, but as a Spaniard I am sick and tired of my country being the laughing stock of Europe just because some parties cannot concede to others’ right to rule because, although well short of a landslide, they still have the moral right to rule as the most voted party.
Of course I’m talking about the PSOE socialists and the PP conservatives.
Rajoy & Co failed to convince half-the-electorate-plus-one that they must continue to rule Spain single-handed. But having said that, they are still by far the most voted party. The message from us Spaniards was pretty clear: you may rule but not on your own, get someone else to balance a few of your policies and don’t be so ‘rightish’ – or stinking of corruption.
You would have thought this was a good chance for left-wingers to get it there and ‘balance things out’. But the only party that seemed to get the message was Ciudadanos. An interesting bunch who appear equally capable of agreeing with both left and right wingers, although not with extreme ‘lefties’ such as Podemos. I honestly believe they should at least be acknowledged for being the only party that has actually acted on the election results.
But the PSOE party is just exasperating. First the disgraced leader, Pedro Sánchez, who insists on a No vote that would only lead to another election, then a ‘committee’ that has no real power, and meanwhile they all insist they don’t want another election. Hey guys! The call is yours.
So with Pedro out of the way, many of us thought the PSOE had finally got the message and they would say yes or at least abstain from voting to allow PP and Ciudadanos to rule. After all, it’s a win-win situation.
Despite your dismal election results (the party’s worst ever!) you have the new government by the ‘short and curlies’, I’m told the English expression is. You can allow them to rule, but the minute you don’t like what you see you withdraw your support and they are left powerless. And in the meantime you have some time to catch your breath after the shameful show you’ve put on the past few weeks. And who knows, you might even come up with a proper candidate for PM capable to not only leading the PSOE, but even the country.
But instead we’ve been putting up with another few weeks of lefties debating over what to do and taking the final decision right down to the finishing line. If by next week we haven’t got a sound government, we’ll be voting at Christmas – Ho ho ho! I’ll have enough of the fat man in red by then, so you can bet I won’t be voting for a red party!
Thanks for allowing my little rant – and equal gratitude to my British pal for translating this letter into ‘understandable English’.
Juan Domenech
