Spain votes in regional elections, centre-right
Popular Party expected to win easily
Issued on:
04/05/2021 - 08:00
Text by:
NEWS WIRES
Madrid
votes Tuesday in an early regional election the incumbent conservative Popular
Party is expected to win comfortably, dealing a blow to Spain's Socialist Prime
Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Isabel Diaz
Ayuso, the outgoing leader of the key Madrid regional administration, has
consistently pushed back against central government pressure to impose tighter
virus restrictions.
The
42-year-old rising star in the PP argues keeping the economy afloat and
preserving social interaction is also important for health.
On her
watch, Madrid has had Spain's lightest virus restrictions. It has been the only
major European capital to keep bars, restaurants and theatres open with few
restrictions since a nationwide lockdown ended in mid-2020.
"Having
beers is important," Diaz Ayuso Ser radio station last month. "After
a bad day a beer cheers you up." She has been campaigning under the slogan
"Freedom".
Critics
however say her lax restrictions have come at too high a price.
They point
out that Madrid has the highest percentage of intensive care beds occupied by
Covid-19 patients in the country, at nearly 45 percent -- and one of the
country's highest infection rates.
Just over
5.1 million people are eligible to vote in the election in Spain's richest
region, which has been governed by the PP since 1995.
Polling
stations open at 9:00 am (0700 GMT), closing at 8:00 pm, with results expected
several hours later.
Death
threats
Final
opinion polls give the PP party around 40-percent support, almost double their
result in the May 2019 election.
That would
put them well ahead of the Socialists, whose backing in the opinion poll had
dropped to 20 percent from just over 27 percent in 2019.
Depending
on the scale of her victory Diaz Ayuso may yet still need the support of
far-right Vox party to govern. That would not be "the end of the
world", she has said.
Leftist
parties have sought to rally their voters by warning of the dangers of the PP
governing with anti-immigrant Vox.
During the
Socialist party final campaign rally on Sunday night, Sanchez repeated his
warning that "our democracy" was at stake in the elections.
The
campaign has also seen anonymous death threat letters with bullets sent to top
politicians, including Diaz Ayuso and the leader of far-left party Podemos,
Pablo Iglesias.
Podemos is
the junior partner in Sanchez's minority coalition government and Iglesias
stepped down as a deputy prime minister in Sanchez's coalition government to
run as the party's candidate.
The early
election was called by Diaz Ayuso in March after she broke up her ruling
coalition with the centrist Ciudadanos party, which is expected to struggle to
win any seats in this election.
(AFP)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário