What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward

THE NEW YORK TIMES: About the only thing clear from Spain’s muddled election results was that Spaniards were turning away from the political extremes.

Supporters of the Spanish far-right Vox party gather outside the party headquarters in Madrid after Spain’s general election on Sunday. | Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Europe’s liberal and moderate establishment breathed easier on Monday after Spain’s nationalist Vox party faltered in Sunday’s elections, stalling for now a surge from far-right parties around the continent that seemed on the brink of washing over even the progressive bastion of Spain.

“A relief for Europe,” read a front-page headline in the liberal La Repubblica in Italy, where the hard-right leader Giorgia Meloni became prime minister last year and predicted “the hour of the patriots has arrived” in a video message to her Vox allies this month.

But instead of Vox becoming the first hard-right party to enter government in Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship nearly 50 years ago, as many polls had predicted, it sank. The party’s poor returns at the polls also took down the underperforming center-right conservatives who had depended on Vox’s support to form a government.

As a result, no single party or coalition immediately gained enough parliamentary seats to govern, thrusting Spain into a familiar political muddle and giving new life to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who only days ago seemed moribund. Suddenly, Mr. Sánchez appeared best positioned to cobble together another progressive government in the coming weeks to avoid new elections. » | Jason Horowitz, Reporting from Madrid and Barcelona | Monday, July 24, 2023

Leer en español.

Spain’s Rightwing Parties Fail to Gain Expected Poll Lead in Election

THE GUARDIAN: Opposition rightwing PP has the most votes with 90% counted but coalition with Vox on course to fall short of outright majority

Spain’s opposition conservative party is poised for the narrowest of victories over the ruling socialists but looks unlikely to secure a rightwing majority following a snap general election that had raised fears of the far right entering government for the first time since the country returned to democracy after General Franco’s death five decades ago.

Although the polls had consistently predicted that the opposition conservative People’s party (PP) would cruise past the Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE) to secure an emphatic victory in Sunday’s election, early results suggested the race was going to be much tighter. » | Sam Jones in Madrid | Sunday, July 23, 2023

Spain elections: hung parliament after conservatives fail to secure expected majority: Conservative People’s party and prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists both declare victory, with weeks of negotiations likely ahead »

Spain Votes on Sunday: Here’s What to Know

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The national elections could see a far-right party enter the Spanish government for the first time since the 1970s.

This past week in Barcelona, the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, which has seen a prolonged secessionist conflict. | Maria Contreras Coll for The New York Times
Spaniards will go to the polls on Sunday to vote in an early general election that could see the right return to power and, more crucially, the far right enter the national government for the first time since the Franco dictatorship, nearly a half-century ago.

The outcome will determine whether Spain — a nation of about 48 million people and the European Union’s fourth-largest economy — follows a growing trend in Europe, where hard-right parties are surging in popularity and, in some cases, gaining power by entering governments as junior partners.

How did we get here?

Spain has succeeded in stabilizing its economy and politics after years of upheavals marked by a devastating financial crisis, a prolonged secessionist conflict in Catalonia and repeated failures to form a government.

Pedro Sánchez, the current prime minister, has been in power for five years. He leads a fragile coalition government made up of various left-wing parties, including his own, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.

Still, under Mr. Sánchez’s leadership, Spain has enjoyed a period of strong economic growth and low inflation. He is also popular in the European Union for his progressive and pro-Europe policies. » | Constant Méheut | Sunday, July 23, 2023

Turkey’s Lira in Free Fall – Erdogan Calls Snap Election

Erdogan invites foreign direct investment and the Turkish diaspora population in Europe to vote for him in the upcoming snap election. We speak with co-editor of Rapture Magazine

Romania Elections: Leftists Voted Back into Power

Romania's Social Democrats have been voted back into power a year after being driven out by protests over accusations of corruption and lack of accountability.

Nigel Farage: 'The Ukip Fox Is in the Westminster Hen-house'

Nigel Farage

THE INDEPENDENT: Farage believes his party will win double the number of seats predicted in the local elections as his opponents fear the birth of 'four-party politics'

A jubilant Nigel Farage has declared “the Ukip fox is in the Westminster hen-house”, after two of the largest parties in Westminster began losing control of councils as a result of gains for the Ukip leader’s “people's army”.

The surge in support for Ukip led Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander to comment the country appeared to have entered a period of "four-party politics" as Farage’s party shrugged off a campaign blighted by controversies to win seats in Conservative and Labour strongholds.

In a sign the party could do well in elections to the European Parliament too, Ukip won more new seats than any other party in local elections in England, according to partial results from around a quarter of councils.

Reacting to the first confirmed results, a "very pleased" Farage insisted Ukip are set to be "serious players" at the general election. » | Heather Saul | Friday, May 23, 2014

Inside Story: North Korea Poll: Politics or Propaganda?

Voters are obliged to tick "Yes" for the sole candidate on their ballot paper.

Populists Gain Ground: Austrian Voters Shift to the Right

Heinz-Christian Strache, FPÖ

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Austrians voted on Sunday to re-elect their current coalition government. But the country's two largest parties saw their worst nationwide election results since World War II while the right-wing populists made substantial gains.

Austria's governing parties were voted back into office in national elections on Sunday, despite losses and an unmistakable shift to the right in the country.

Preliminary official results show Chancellor Werner Faymann's center-left Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) as the strongest in parliament, with 27.1 percent of votes. Its coalition partner, the center-right Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) scored 23.8 percent of the vote.

The right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) has once again secured its slot as the third biggest party in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, with 21.4 percent of the vote. The party also registered a 3.9 percent increase in votes compared to 2008 elections. The Green Party will be fourth largest, with 11.5 percent of the votes. » | dsl -- with wires | Monday, September 30, 2013

Related video »

Norway Swings Right in Election Two Years after Breivik Massacre

Norway's set for a change at the helm. That's after a general election saw the country's current government lose to a coalition of parties formed by the Conservatives and their right-wing allies. Conservative leader Erna Solberg, who's eyeing the premier's seat, has hailed the triumph of the right, as historic. And as Lucy Kafanov explains the poll's result echoes a steady trend across Europe. Johannes Bergh, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, thinks the conservative party's invitation to the right-wing group to form a coalition government could be risky...

Italians Vote in Unpredictable Election
Millions urged to cast ballot in closely watched race, amid disillusion with politicians and fears over economy.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte Claims Victory
Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime minister, has claimed victory in the country's parliamentary elections. Preliminary results show his centre-right Liberal Party won 41 seats in the 150 member house. Earlier Dutch Labour Leader Diederik Samsom conceded defeat with 39 seats. Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood reports.

Mahmoud Jibril's Centrist Party Dominates Libyan Election

THE GUARDIAN: National Forces Alliance wins more than double the seats of Muslim Brotherhood party, as final results confirmed

Final results in Libya's election have confirmed that the centrist National Forces Alliance has a commanding position in the new parliament, winning more than double the seats of its principle rival, the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction party.

After delays and recounts, Libya's election commission announced that the 7 July poll has given the NFA, led by a US-trained economist, Mahmoud Jibril, and its allies 41 seats to the Justice and Construction party's 17.

For the Muslim Brotherhood, it was final confirmation of its failure to match the success of its sister parties, who have won power in Egypt and Tunisia, and were fellow participants in last year's Arab spring revolutions. » | Chris Stephen in Tripoli | Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Inside Story – Libyans: Separating Religion from Government?
We analyse hints of a new political direction emerging from early results of Libya's election.

Greeks Face Stark Choice at Ballot Box
Greek voters return to the polls on Sunday, after a previous election in May failed to produce a goverment. The result could determine whether Greece sticks to the terms of its international bailout, and remains in the eurozone. Polls suggest the two main parties are running neck and neck, and neither is likely to win enough seats to rule alone. On the one hand conservative New Democracy is experienced but also accused of years of mismanagement. On the other, the left-wing Syriza bloc is an untarnished opposition, but lacking any experience in government. How the two parties are going to reconcile contradictory positions is anybody's guess - and the prospect of failure carries the risk of bankruptcy. Al Jazeera's John Psaropoulos reports from Athens.

France's Mr Normal Set to Secure Socialist Majority in Vote
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: PARIS: He calls himself Mr Normal. But that's only if ''normal'' means having the chance to become one of France's strongest presidents in recent memory.

Francois [sic] Hollande, the unassuming politician who won last month's presidential election, is on the verge of cementing that victory by securing a legislative majority. If his Socialists can achieve that feat by securing a majority in the National Assembly, or at least forming a coalition with allies from like-minded parties, Mr Hollande would occupy a commanding position that France's left has not enjoyed in a generation. » | Henry Chu | Monday, June 11, 2012

Brotherhood Man Promises Islamic Law in Egypt

REUTERS INDIA: When he joined the race for Egypt's presidency just five weeks ago, Mohamed Mursi was mocked as the Muslim Brotherhood's uncharismatic "spare tyre" after its first-choice candidate was disqualified.

But the 60-year-old engineer came first in the opening round, according to a Brotherhood tally after most votes were counted, thanks to a campaign that showed off the unequalled political muscle of Egypt's oldest Islamist movement.

The run-off on June 16 and 17 with second-placed Ahmed Shafiq, who served as deposed leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, gives Egyptians a stark choice between a military man linked to the past and an Islamist whose conservative message appeals to some and alarms others in this nation of 82 million.

A Brotherhood official said that with votes counted from about 12,800 of the roughly 13,100 polling stations, Mursi had 25 percent, Shafiq 23 percent, a rival Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh 20 percent and leftist Hamdeen Sabahy 19 percent.

Calling himself the only authentic Islamist in the race, Mursi has targeted devout voters whose support helped the Brotherhood and the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist movement to secure 70 percent of parliament seats earlier this year.

He has promised to implement Islamic sharia during rallies peppered with references to the Koran, God and the Prophet Mohammad and occasionally interrupted by pauses for mass prayer.

But he has seldom spelt out what that would mean for Egypt, where piety runs deep and the constitution already defines the principles of Islamic law as the main source of legislation. » | Yom Perry | CAIRO | Friday, May 25, 2012

Inside Story: What Kind of Leader Do Egyptians Want?
As Egyptians go to the polls to elect a new president, we ask what kind of power the winner will have.

Related »

Egypt Elections: Alexandria Voters Share Their Expectations
Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal asks women voters in Alexandria what expectations they have on Egypt's next president.

'Sick Conditions': Why Greeks Will Vote for Tsipras

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Greeks have spurned the politicians who represent the country's broken system, and many are now following rising star Alexis Tsipras. The radical left-wing politician has pledged to free Greece from painful austerity measures while keeping the euro, but no one knows how he plans to fulfill his promises.

Alexis Tsipras, the man who will very likely emerge again as the winner of the upcoming Greek parliamentary election, is campaigning throughout the country primarily under one slogan: "We won't pay any more."

He doesn't say what would replace the "barbarism of the austerity dictates," which he maintains that the European Union partners, above all German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have forced upon his country. He argues that the Europeans are only bluffing -- and he promises that they will continue to help, even if the Greeks no longer service their debts. He says: Elect me and all this misery will come to an end.

Stavros Lygeros, 59, is sitting in a café in the posh Athens neighborhood Neo Psychiko. Lygeros is a political commentator and a bourgeois intellectual. He's endeavoring to explain why the Greeks are following Tsipras in droves, although this young politician is clearly a seductive new star and his successful radical left-wing Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) cannot explain who will pay the future salaries of civil servants, doctors and nurses. Lygeros says that many Syriza voters don't even believe that this party has a solution.

The tragedy is that Greeks don't really have a choice when they return to the polls on June 17 -- their only option is refusal and protest. Suddenly all of Europe is demanding that they vote once again for, of all people, the very politicians who brought them all this misery in the first place, namely the socialists under Evangelos Venizelos and the conservatives under Antonis Samaras.

Because the discredited parties stand for the loan agreement and the conditions laid down by the lenders, many Greeks see Tsipras as their only alternative. At 37, he is young compared to the usual gerontocrats who dominate Greek politics. With an annual income last year of €48,000 ($61,000), a motorcycle and a modest apartment, he's fairly poor for a politician, which is yet another factor that fuels his popularity among voters. And he's the only one who promises to free Greece from the yoke of the austerity measures -- yet retain the euro. » | Julia Amalia Heyer | Monday, May 21, 2012

Related »

Greece to Hold New Elections
Greek politicians have failed to form a government and will now head towards holding a new election. Polls show the vote could favour the country's leftists who want to renege on the terms of bailout agreed on by the government earlier in the year. This will see the country push closer towards an exit from the eurozone, a situation which IMF chief Christine Lagarde says could get "quite messy". Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from Athens.

Related material here and here