Spain goes to the polls to decide its next government on Sunday, and a hard-right coalition is looking likely.

The most likely government to emerge - most analysts predict - will be a coalition including a hard-right nationalist party for the first time in Spain since the death of fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

More left-leaning Spaniards are frantically texting contacts, urging them to make sure to vote - despite the heat and it being holiday time for many - to “stop the fascists” in their tracks.The rhetoric this election season has been toxic, with voters becoming increasingly polarised.

It’s a fight over values, traditions and about what being Spanish should mean in 2023.

This kind of heated identity debate isn’t peculiar to Spain. Think of Italy, France, Brazil or the post-Trumpian debate in the US.

At EU HQ in Brussels, there are huge concerns about a resurgence of hard-right nationalist parties across Europe.

    • BestBouclettesEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Well, I don’t think people see it that way. We have a ton of problems in France. Most of them are blamed on immigrants (leeching on social security nets, leeching on Medicare, causing trouble and being a nuisance to the peaceful french taxpayer). So when you have politics using shortcuts, scapegoats and easy solutions to complex problems, of course people are going to vote for them. It’s especially true when you consider that most mainstream media in France are owned by a few, mostly right leaning, people (Niel, Bolloré, Bouygues, Arnault, to name a few). They spew more or less blatant propaganda to protect their interests. That coupled with a very weak, split and disorganised left (because of propaganda as stated before, but also ideological conflicts and refusal to compromise), you get what’s happening in France, and probably in other countries in Europe. It’s sad and definitely terrifying for the future…