stevesainty

Having just registered to vote in the Spanish local elections I need to decide whom to vote for.

I know nothing about the local party politics and could do with some help please.

Could someone give me a quick précis of each party's stance so that I can do some more research, and hence make an informed decision.

I will be casting my vote in the Torrevieja area if that helps.

jonboy

I can't help you very much, except to say that most parties these days are treated with suspicion. However there is talk of a new contender "Podemos".
A debate/lynching is taking place on the main Spain board as I type.
I think you may find it enlightening/entertaining?

Rosemary

I hate politics so do not tend to take much interest in what the politicians say so I have always talked to the people in my town and asked them who is likely to be the best for our town. As our local politicians are well known to the people I have always found that the locals are well able to evaluate what use each of them will be.

Rosemary

Retired in Euskadi

Since corruption is the main worry on everybody's mind among the parties, there's not much to choose!
The PP party (right wing) seem genetically in bred with corruption; The PSOE (left wing) are not immune either; Podemos are new & so untainted. Depending on where you 'stand', you take your pick. Personally I'd keep Podemos at arm's length at the moment; they're more left wing than PSOE.
At our last local elections I counted 39 parties!!!!

amideislas

Just for the record...

It's natural that when people see shed loads of politicians being arrested for corruption, we presume that there's more corruption. Obviously.

However, I'd argue that if corruption increasingly results in jail, then what is the motivation? It certainly wasn't that way just a decade ago. Corruption was the accepted way of politics. Precious few went to jail for it. You rarely heard about it, but a brown envelope was a sure way to get your planning permission...

So, with corruption being prosecuted more than ever, isn't that a good thing? To believe that nobody's doing anything about corruption is kind of.. well, false, isn't it? The facts surely don't support that notion. No, we're not "corruption-free" but it's certainly a lot harder to get away with these days.

This reminds me of the American mid-term elections, and Obama's dismal approval ratings - downright hated in some cases. Everybody's trying to distance themselves from Obama;

Over the past 6 years, the right-wing have succeeded in creating the >perception< that Obama has somehow "ruined" the country, despite having achieved some pretty impressive things .. not to mention a strong, rapidly growing economy...

I think the moral of the story is that people should consider face value facts, rather than favouring perceptions that some would like you to believe. We are, after all, demonstrably suckers for believing what we want to believe, over how it actually is.

Podemos would like you to believe we're all impoverished, and those that aren't are greedy criminals, and corruption is still being ignored. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't see much abject poverty around here (really, not much poverty at all), and the "brown envelope" seems to be a thing of the past. So, I have to believe most people around here would qualify as the greedy criminals responsible for Spain's wholly impoverished, entirely corrupt state...

...well, if you choose to ignore reality that is...

Lenox

In local politics, it's not the party but the personality. See who has the better reputation and follow him.
It is true to say that generally, the politician will support those who support him, scratch his back and have a large family presence. Thus, the foreigners are generally forgotten (politely or otherwise). See if there are any extranjeros in politics and have a chat with them. They will at least look out for the foreigners...!

stevesainty

Thank you for your replies.

I am still none the wiser but I will ask around locally.