Spain On Course To Elect Conservative As PM...

[paulitician]

I thought this was pretty interesting. Europe seems to be moving away from the Socialist Nanny State while we continue to move towards it.


Spain on course to elect a conservative as PM. Mariano Rajoy of People's Party is expected to unseat Socialists and make Spain the third Euro country to change leader...


Spain's veteran conservative leader, who appears to be on course to be elected as prime minister at his third attempt on Sunday, has expressed hope that financial markets will relax their pressure on Madrid.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the People's party (PP), spoke out as the interest on Spanish debt remained above 6% for a fifth day running, ahead of an election being carefully followed across Europe.

"We hope this [pressure] stops and that people realise there's an election here and that the party that wins has the right to a minimum margin," the PP leader told Onda Cero radio in remarks reported by the Associated Press.

Elena Salgado, the Spanish finance minister, said investors were wrong to target Spain because its overall debt-to-GDP ratio of around 70% was manageable. "We are seeing systematic attacks on our sovereign debt," Salgado told Cadena Ser radio. "Today it is Spain, yesterday it was Italy, the day before that it could have been Belgium, and tomorrow it could be any other country."

Rajoy, who first challenged for the premiership in 2004, is expected to unseat the Socialists on Sunday amid widespread unhappiness with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has announced he will stand down after the vote.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/18/spain-to-elect-conservative-pm

 

[paulitician]

21% Unemployment? Wow.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

You do understand that ‘conservative’ in Europe is not the same as ‘conservative’ in the United States, yes?

 

[Toro]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

 

[paulitician]

Citizens gettng sick of the Socialists? Sound familiar? Hmm?

 

[Luissa]

The People's Party is the largest party represented in the Senate.
The PP was also the governing party from 1996 to 2004.

[quoteThe PP was the governing party from 1996 to 2004, led by Prime Minister José María Aznar. The PP won the general elections for the first time in 1996, and José María Aznar became Prime Minister with the support of the Basque Nationalist Party, the Catalan Convergence and Union and the Canarian Coalition. In the 2000 elections, the PP gained an absolute majority.][/quote]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Party_(Spain)

 

[Luissa]

They are also not like American Conservatives.

 

[Luissa]

Citizens gettng sick of the Socialists? Sound familiar? Hmm?

You should read up on European politics.

 

[WillowTree]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

that doesn't sound good for the obiedoodle does it?

 

[Toro]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

that doesn't sound good for the obiedoodle does it?

Nope. It does not.

 

[J.E.D]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

that doesn't sound good for the obiedoodle does it?

Nope. It does not.

Yeah, right. A European election means Obama's going down? Fucking morons.

 

[paulitician]

Man,the Socialists sure have done a number on Europe. From catastrophic Immigration policies to catastrophic economic policies,they've messed things up so bad. It will be a long time before Europe recovers. Lets not allow our Socialists here to mess things up that way.

 

[Toro]

that doesn't sound good for the obiedoodle does it?

Nope. It does not.

Yeah, right. A European election means Obama's going down? Fucking morons.

No, I mean it does not look good for Obama. European elections don't matter.

 

[J.E.D]

Nope. It does not.

Yeah, right. A European election means Obama's going down? Fucking morons.

No, I mean it does not look good for Obama. European elections don't matter.

Oh I see. Sorry. I remember you now. You're cool. Willow, on the other hand, is as dumb as a rock.

 

[PeteEU]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

4 years ago the sitting government got re-elected. They have been in power for 8 years.

 

[tinydancer]

Maggie Thatcher was brilliant in not letting Britain turn to the Euro. I've heard her speeches on how she felt the future would unfold with the EU and she was spookily bang on the money.

Spain will be interesting to watch in future days.

 

[tinydancer]

Spain will elect a conservative government for the same reason why it elected a socialist government four years ago - voters usually kick the party in power during hard times no matter what the party.

4 years ago the sitting government got re-elected. They have been in power for 8 years.

They got elected on the heels of the Madrid bombing correct ?And I must say I found their re-election to be stunning as they were already on the the radar screen as having major financial problems at that time.

 

[PeteEU]

I thought this was pretty interesting. Europe seems to be moving away from the Socialist Nanny State while we continue to move towards it.

Not really. Europe has been conservative pretty much for the last 10 years with a few exceptions. If you look at the Europe map then there are 2 left wing governments. They are Spain and Denmark. Denmark just kicked out the right wing. Spain will most likely go right wing tomorrow. Portugal changed to right wing this year as well, and the UK changed to right wing last year. The rest of Europe pretty much have been right wing for years and are going into elections next year and here the right stand too loose in places like France and Germany. And then there is Italy where the right wing has failed horribly and would most likely have lost power if it was not for the unity technocratic government.

So coming here and saying that the supposed problems of the Europe are the "socialist left leaning governments" fault is just not factually correct in most countries... it is in fact the right wing government's fault in most cases, including Greece where the now deposed left wing government took over and discovered the true extent of the problem.

Spain on course to elect a conservative as PM. Mariano Rajoy of People's Party is expected to unseat Socialists and make Spain the third Euro country to change leader...

Yep. Most likely. Funny part, the party that laid the foundation for the 22% unemployment problem is now going to get rewarded by getting in power again. Wonder if the corruption of the previous right wing government and the party as a whole will bleed into the state again.

Spain's veteran conservative leader, who appears to be on course to be elected as prime minister at his third attempt on Sunday, has expressed hope that financial markets will relax their pressure on Madrid.

Yes, and sadly he is the "best" the PP can muster. The PP has been hit by internal scandal after scandal during the last 8 years and after the fiasco of the 2004 Madrid bombing scandal, then it has taken this long, that the sitting Prime Minister not running again and 22% unemployment for the PP and Rajoy finally to win over the left.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the People's party (PP), spoke out as the interest on Spanish debt remained above 6% for a fifth day running, ahead of an election being carefully followed across Europe.

"We hope this [pressure] stops and that people realise there's an election here and that the party that wins has the right to a minimum margin," the PP leader told Onda Cero radio in remarks reported by the Associated Press.

It probably will.... countries with right wing governments are more than often given far far far more lee way by the markets than ones with left wing governments.... unless you have a Silvio Berlscolooony as Prime Minister. Greece, Portugal and Ireland (some what) had left leaning governments and were pushed over the edge. Spain also a left leaning government and pushed far.. Italy having high debt ratio for decades was ignored till Berlsocloony finally went totally wacko and then pushed near the edge and bye bye Silvio. Countries like the UK, high debt, huge deficit, untouched.

Elena Salgado, the Spanish finance minister, said investors were wrong to target Spain because its overall debt-to-GDP ratio of around 70% was manageable. "We are seeing systematic attacks on our sovereign debt," Salgado told Cadena Ser radio. "Today it is Spain, yesterday it was Italy, the day before that it could have been Belgium, and tomorrow it could be any other country."

Factually wrong. Spain's debt ratio is 64% and the lowest of the large economies in Europe... and I doubt that Salgado would mention the % number at all, so this one is on the Guardian..

Rajoy, who first challenged for the premiership in 2004, is expected to unseat the Socialists on Sunday amid widespread unhappiness with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has announced he will stand down after the vote.

Ironically Rajoy first ran for the top spot because the former Prime Minister said he would not run again and his party and his government was scandal ridden at the time and even before the Madrid bombings. Then the government at the time came out and blamed ETA and lost all credibility and basically killed off Rajoy's chances in 2004 and 2008.

Now another Prime Minister has said he is stopping and his replacement's chances are also being destroyed by a mess his Prime Minster left for him..

 

[Chris]

Spain has the lowest tax rate of any industialized country.

That's why they have a huge defiicit.

Like Americans, they want everything, but they don't want to pay for it.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

It does not mean that the Spaniards are voting for a libertarian Reaganite party. It does mean that Socialists are getting kicked to the curb.

I really hope there are two results from this: 1) interest rate pressure in Spain relaxes a bit, so there is less hysteria over the Euro. 2) The new Spanish government does do some sensible (read free market) things to reduce unemployment