Catalonian polls predict complicated general elections in Spain

In Catalonia, voting last Sunday left a difficult situation for the formation of a new regional government, with an almost 50-50 division between followers and opponents of Independence, which opened the door immediately the door to talks about agreements and alliances.

Despite Catalonian particularities, the election confirmed trends that will show up in the general polls, as the impossibility of a force winning absolute majority and the setback of the traditional parties Popular (PP) and Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE).

In Catalonia, the PP lost eight deputies and the PSOE four, but the emergent Podemos or Izquierda Unida (IU), united with the Greens in the Catalonian Coalition Yes, it can be done, with two deputies less than the alliance without Podemos of 2012.

In national terms, the main winner in Catalonia was the center-right party Ciudadanos, which almost tripled the number of deputies and passed from nine in the previous poll
to 25 in the present legislature and fared as second force in the regional parliament.

In an attempt to prevent demoralization, the leaders of PP recognize the defeat, but also publicly evaluate that the result is not extrapolable to the general elections and defend the hard line kept before the independentists which closes any option of negotiation.

A strong attack, clearly against the leader of the PP, Mariano Rajoy, came from ex-president of the Spanish government, Jose Maria Aznar, who estimated that ‘someâ€Ö should seriously think why the party was not capable of representing the majority of the constitutional forces.

In the PSOE, meanwhile, that awaited worse results and is under pressure of the emergent parties for the general elections the slam on the brakes of Podemos in Catalonia, opens hopes of retaking part of the votes that, according to surveys, escaped to the formation of Iglesias.

Catalonia left a bitter flavor for the left coalition, despite which the candidate of IU, Alberto Garzon, assured it will not change his idea of looking for a convergence with Podemos for the generals, elections that should modify the Spanish political scenario.

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PL-35/MNA