Spanish National Elections – Update 2

OK, so we have 99.9% of the votes verified and the full breakdown for Madrid from yesterday’s Spanish general election. First, a quick reminder of what’s at stake.

There were 1,111 candidates competing for 350 seats in parliament’s lower chamber, called the Congress of Deputies. The winning party in the lower house forms next government for a four-year term. In the Senate, 1,220 candidates are competing for 208 seats.

There were 35.1 million people eligible to vote. The field consisted of about a ten mainstream parties considered to have a chance to win seats but the main fight is between the socialist PSOE and the conservative PP (Partido Popular).

National Results: Congress:
 
PSOE    169 deputees    11.064 million votes    43.64%
PP         153                     10.170                           40.11
CiU        11                       0.774                              3.05
EAJ-PNV  6                    0.303                             1.20
Esquerra   3                    0.296                              1.17
IU            2                       0.963                              3.80
BNG        2                       0.209                              0.82
CC-PNC  2                       0.164                              0.65
UPyD      1                        0.303                             1.20
NA-BAI  1                        0.062                             0.24

In Madrid the PP won out, taking 49% of the total vote against the socialists 39% – however that only translated into into a 3 seat lead because of the way constituencies are divided up. The greens got a whopping total of 10,000 votes.

2008        (2004)

Party        Votes       %      Deputees
P.P. PARTIDO POPULAR 1.723.370,       49.34,      18    (17, 45,02, 1.576.636)
P.S.O.E. PARTIDO SOCIALISTA OBRERO ESPAÑOL     1.377.996,    39.45,     15    (16 44,11 1.544.676)
IU-CM. IZQUIERDA UNIDA COMUNIDAD DE MADRID-ALTERNATIVA           163.633,     4.69,      1       (2 6,43 225.109)
UPyD UNION PROGRESO Y DEMOCRACIA        131.242,       3.76,        1
LV-GV LOS VERDES-GRUPO VERDE     10.807,       0,31,         0

Spanish National Elections – Update 1

I will be posting the full results of Spain’s general election in a few hours when all the votes are counted, but with 98% of the tally done it’s a PSOE (socialist party) win with 169 seats (short of the 176 needed for an absolute parliamentary majority) with Mariano Rajoy’s conservative PP (Popular Party) set to win 153 seats.  

Madrid and surrounding provinces remained PP majorities – the centre held – and there were few surprises or big changes elsewhere around the country compared to the 2004 vote.

It was a much less emotive election than four years ago (not surprising really… only 1 person murdered in this years run up to polling day) and Madrid seemed very subdued on Sunday. Most of the TVs in the bars I visited or popped my head into during the evening were covering the first round of the 2008 Moto GP season rather than election results. I overheard a couple of old ladies taking a coffee close to Plaza Colon muttering about ‘evil’ Zapatero (the winning president) but that was about as heated as things seemed to get.

Spain’s 35 million voters were electing 350 members of the Cortes, or lower house of parliament, and 208 members of the 264-member upper house, the Senate. The remaining 56 Senate seats are decided by indirect election by assemblies in Spain’s 17 autonomous regions. 

Bad Economics

From today, Madrileños under the age of 30 can get special help when renting a flat. Called the ‘Renta Basica de Emancipación’, it is available to those between 22 and 30 years whose annual gross earnings come to less than 22,000 euroweenies per year. It can amount up to 210 euroweenies a month for the rent, plus 600e a year for the deposit (‘fianza’) and another 120e a year for the guarantee (‘aval’).

Housing, or at least the cost of it, is one of the main political issues in Spain and is particularly acute in Madrid, where prices have sky-rocketed in line with the UK and Ireland. Rarely a week goes by without the media reporting on a demo from economically illiterate students demanding cheaper accommodation or a political press conference on the subject and each month the breakdowns by district (barrio) of average rents is scrutinised in bewildering depth by commentators from all sides of the political spectrum. This ‘Renta Basica’ was a response by the ruling socialist party (PSOE) to a perceived weakness in its support from this demographic of the electorate. Or, to put it more simply, it was a bribe to make ’em vote PSOE.

However, landlords are no fools and, as always happens when you artificially distort a market, the providers (the house owners) have surreptitiously started to raise costs (rents) prior to today’s deadline – thus making it harder for those not in the target age-bracket but looking for similar types of accommodation to rent. Thus we are getting artificial inflation plus more tax impositions for the general working public.