Spanish voters seem to hanker after stable centrist government

SINCEPSOEPPPPPP 1982 Spain has been led by only two political parties, the centre-left Socialist Workers’ Party () and the centre-right People’s Party (). Those first three decades of restored democracy were the good old days, say many. Since the financial crisis of 2008, when a property bubble spectacularly burst, the party system has splintered. The radical-left party Podemos (“We Can”) arose out of fury with political and financial elites. Regional separatism gained momentum in Catalonia beginning in around 2012. And Vox, a hard-right party critical of immigration and cultural change, spun off from the .All this has made stable government much harder. The socialists currently govern with Unidas Podemos, a fractious grouping that includes Podemos itself. Lacking a majority even so, the government has repeatedly had to offer favours to Basque and Catalan separatists to get its laws and budgets passed. That has infuriated many voters. The stormed to victory in May’s regional and local elections, leading Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, to call a snap election for July 23rd.