The rise of an unknown political party

[ad hoc]

No, not UKIP, this one's good news, and actually much more dramatic than UKIP. Podemos, who were only founded 8 months ago, have just come top in an opinion poll in Spain with 27.7% of the vote as against the PSOE's 26.2 and PP's 20.7%
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/11/01/actualidad/1414865510_731502.html

[G-Man]

The rise of an unknown political party

The PP's collapse is pretty dramatic. From 44% in the 2011 election to 20% in this poll. With the PSOE holding steady, it looks like Podemos are reaping PP support.

Are Spanish politics so fluid that people who vote conservative are going to turn to a left-wing party?

[ad hoc]

The rise of an unknown political party

More I suspect that Spain is so fucked that people are ooking for an alternative. The PP were that alternative in 2011, but now they've been found to be even worse than the PSOE, people are looking for something else. Luckily that alternative seems to be a left wing party rather than a right wing one (unlike most of Europe)

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The rise of an unknown political party

Left wing certainly, but I think they are anti-EU, Podemos (the EU as in the insitution that exists today), describing it as something that reduces Spain to being a 'German colony'. So some of their new appeal presumably draws on exactly the same sentiment that UKIP is stirring up here. Quite a lot of people vote on the one issue that has them most wound up, and for whichever party is promising the most to tackle it.

[G-Man]

The rise of an unknown political party

It's not the same sentiment though. The reasons for opposing the EU -- in itself not a bad thing -- are completely different.

[Diable Rouge]

The rise of an unknown political party

Izquierda Unida, who were in the mid-teens before Podemos were formed, have slumped back to 5%, so they're getting the alternative left benefits.

[ursus arctos]

The rise of an unknown political party

Precisely.

It isn't anti-EU as much as it is anti-austerity.

Like many new parties born out of protests and frustration, Podemos are a rather broad church ideologically right now.

[Duncan Gardner]

The rise of an unknown political party

I think of them as the Rubettes Party:

[Bored Of Education]

The rise of an unknown political party

Unsurprisingly, Left Unity have been courting PODEMOS, hosting them and going on a "tour" with them and Syriza from Greece.

They are, of course, both coming from a very different background and political system from ours and lessons to be learnt from them have to be seen in that context.

Being against the EU can be a left and, more importantly, non-immigration-based issue (see NO2EU). The question to be posed is whether the EU is guaranteeing, as NO2EU out it, "the rights of workers and does not put the interests of big business above that of ordinary people." I have a lot of sympathy with that concern, I have to say.

[Felicity, I guess so]

The rise of an unknown political party

Assuming the drop in PP votes is where the podemos votes are coming from is the same error that had PCF voters 'switching' to the FN in France in the 80s, in the fantasies of certain journalists.

There was mass abstention in the last election, podemos are giving the disaffected left/young voters someone to vote for this time.

[pebblethefish]

The rise of an unknown political party

While my knowledge of Spanish politics is understandably limited (actually, you could have left out the word Spanish there), this seems like an SDP situation. Everyone is fucked off with the major parties, a new one appears, everyone supports it (and remember, the SDP had some spectacular victories in the early 80s, and over 50% of the polls) then the election turns up and they get ignored.

If the Argentinians invade Majorca and Spain drive them out before the next election, then the parallel is perfect.

[Ginger Yellow]

The rise of an unknown political party

It isn't anti-EU as much as it is anti-austerity.

It seems a bit odd for PP voters, of all people, to blame the EU for austerity in Spain. It's not like Rajoy needed encouragement, even if he did get plenty of it.

[Diable Rouge]

The rise of an unknown political party

Bored of Education wrote: Unsurprisingly, Left Unity have been courting PODEMOS, hosting them and going on a "tour" with them and Syriza from Greece.

They are, of course, both coming from a very different background and political system from ours and lessons to be learnt from them have to be seen in that context.

Being against the EU can be a left and, more importantly, non-immigration-based issue (see NO2EU). The question to be posed is whether the EU is guaranteeing, as NO2EU out it, "the rights of workers and does not put the interests of big business above that of ordinary people." I have a lot of sympathy with that concern, I have to say.

Indeed, four of our eleven MEPs currently belong to that radical left bloc, so it appears to be less an anti-EU vote, than seeking some tinkering with the existing social model prevailing at Brussels.

[Max Payne]

The rise of an unknown political party

We need a new moderate left political party to rise up in Australia, since we don't have one.