Spain election 2019 polls: Will Catalan CRISIS be decider in Spain election this spring?

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez today announced the last-minute election for April 28 after the defeat of his Socialist Party’s budget plan in Congress. His minority government, which holds less than a quarter of parliamentary seats, was hindered by former Catalan allies who voted against the bill. They were rallying against the government’s continued shutdown of the region’s fight to self rule. Spaniards had not been due to go to the polls until 2020 but now face their third election in the space of four years.

Weeks of further political uncertainty comes at a crunch time for the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy as it recovers from years of austerity.

Will Catalan crisis be the deciding issue for voters?

In his speech, Prime Minister Sanchez said: “Between doing nothing and continuing without the budget and calling on Spaniards to have their say, I choose the second.

“Spain needs to keep advancing, progressing with tolerance, respect, moderation and common sense.

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“I have proposed to dissolve parliament and call elections for April 28th.”

Catalonia is expected to be a key issue with voters as a major trial of Catalan leaders gets underway this week.

The 12 separatist leaders are being tried for their participant of the Catalan independence referendum in 2017 which ended in violent street clashes.

The divisive issue means minority parties are likely to use the trial to their advantage and potentially look to form coalitions.

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Sanchez’s Socialists are leading in polls, with estimates from the last few months averaging at 24 percent, according to a poll of polls by daily El Pais.

Not far behind them are the conservative’s People Party (PP) and centre-right Ciudadanos who could theoretically form a coalition with the far-right Vox.

Reuters says the socialists are likely to mobilise voters away from the far right on issues ranging from women’s rights to symbolic issues such as the removal of former dictator Francisco Franco’s remains from a grand mausoleum.

The Spanish dictator’s family are insisting he is relocated to the central La Almudena cathedral from the Valley of the Fallen monument.

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What impact could the elections have for Parliament?

Spanish national newspaper El Pais says “a number of projects will now fall by the wayside” because of the election.

These include crucial measures aimed at combating climate change.

A plan to create a euthanasia law in Spain covering palliative care could also be put on hold.

source: express.co.uk