This month Spain will finally head to the polls after a tumultuous past two years that has seen the dramatic rise of two new political parties and an independence movement that threatens to break up the country.
Current projections show the race neck and neck between four parties, all of which favor a very different vision for the future. The national elections could have significant security repercussions if parties opposed to U.S. basing in Spain emerge victorious.
New Parties in the Political Mix
Until 2013, Spanish politics largely centered around two main political parties—the center-right People’s Party and the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. In 2014, however, numerous corruption scandals rocked both major parties and stirred up public anger against the Spanish establishment. Popular discontent led to the rise of two new parties to the forefront of Spanish politics—Podemos (“We Can”) and Citizens. While Citizens had already existed as a regional party for some time before becoming national, Podemos was founded in 2014 by a small cadre of Marxist professors with ties to Venezuela’s government.
Podemos and Spain–U.S. Relations
In the first year of Podemos’s existence, Pablo Iglesias led the party to the top of national polls thanks to his anti-establishment, anti-corruption rhetoric. Iglesias has publicly supported getting Spain out of NATO and favors kicking the U.S. off its current military bases in Morón and Rota. With its close proximity to North Africa, Spain has been a key American ally in combatting terrorism and instability in the region. Although Podemos has since dropped in the polls, it retains enough popularity to at least become a potential coalition partner in the new government, giving the party meaningful influence on Spanish policy.
Citizens shares the same anti-establishment platform as Podemos, but differs in that it favors a centrist policy agenda. The latest projections suggest that Citizens may garner the most votes in the election, but all four parties remain nearly tied with the election drawing near. No matter who wins, the winning party will need to form a coalition with at least one other party in order to establish a new government.
Election with Far-reaching Implications
Despite the great divide between Spain’s four major parties, they all agree on one issue—opposition to Catalan separatism. However, the rise of parties opposed to U.S. forces in Spain could mean that the election results will have far-reaching implications for the U.S., NATO, and the fight against terrorism.
