The results of the 28 April general election in Spain were very contradictory. There was good news in that the main right wing party, the PP, lost half of its vote, going from 137 MPs to just 66 today. The Labour-type Socialist party, PSOE, won the election with very big gains (from 85 to 123 MPs) and will almost certainly form the next government.
It’s important for the left to understand what’s at stake in the independence debate, writes David Karvala.
On 1 October 2017 Catalonia is to hold a referendum on the question “Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?”
The Spanish state aims at all costs to stop the vote, with administrative and judicial measures as well as covert operations.
Catalonia is a nation of around 7.5 million people at the eastern end of the Iberian Peninsula.
David Karvala reports from Barcelona on how the people overturned the government.
Until Thursday 11 March everything pointed to another victory for the Popular Party (PP) led by Aznar's nondescript replacement, Mariano Rajoy, in the general elections due that Sunday. The reasons are complex. Essentially, despite the more than 90 percent opposition to the war across the Spanish population, the parliamentary opposition parties had failed to convince people that they represent a real alternative to the right. Then, at around 7.40am on 11 March, bombs exploded on four commuter trains entering Madrid.
