Right-wing parties triumph in Spain, UK

The British Labour Party already experienced its first Waterloo in the general election in December 2019, when it historically fell by 60 seats and Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. Now the debacle was repeated at community level: According to current forecasts, the “Red Fire Wall” collapsed dramatically.

In Hartlepool, which has been ruled by Labour since 1974, the Tories won the majority. In an early parliamentary election, the Conservative Jill Mortimer won, becoming the first Tory MP from Hartlepool since 1959. The Tories will also rule Northumberland for the first time since the 1970s, as well as left-wing strongholds such as Sunderland, Harlow in Essex, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Dudley.

The results are eagerly awaited in Scotland, where the national, socialist Scottish National Party around Nicola Sturgeon has announced another referendum on staying in the United Kingdom in the event of an election victory, cheered by Berlin and Brussels. The Scottish National Party incidentally celebrated Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and opposed the war with Nazi Germany.

In Madrid, the conservative People’s Party and the right-wing Vox won regional elections on Tuesday. The Partido Popular around the right-wing regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso was able to double its share of the vote from 22,5 percent to 45 percent, with the immigration-critical Vox party coming to ten percent, The two have already promised a coalition. The ruling socialists lost ten percent and came down to only 17 percent. The turnout of 76 percent was the highest ever in the Spanish capital with its 6,6 million inhabitants.

As regional boss in Madrid, Díaz Ayuso had refused the lockdown and kept bars and restaurants open. According to an interview with the IPG Journal, she had declared the elections in Madrid “to be a vote on the policy of the progressive central government” and made it clear beforehand that she “had no fear of contact with the right-wing populists in the still relatively young Vox party”.

Díaz Ayuso ran with the slogan “Freedom or Communism”. She commented on her policy slogan: “I have no problems making a pact with Vox. If they call you a fascist, you are on the right side of the story,” said Díaz Ayuso.

“We stopped the communists in Madrid,” said Vox boss Santiago Abascal in response. Violent left-wing extremists attacked him with stones at a demonstration in April and 35 people were injured, including 21 police officers. Vox is now calling for legal action against the violent left- wing extremist and leftist leader Pablo Iglesias, who called for violence and announced his withdrawal from politics after the devastating defeat.

Despite the pandemic, nearly 5,1 million voters turned out to vote, with turnout estimated at 76 percent, an increase of more than 10 points compared to the previous election. “Today, Madrid adopted a motion of democratic censure” against Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Socialist Prime Minister, said the head of the PP Pablo Casado, evoking a “point of inflection in national politics”.

The left suffered a real collapse: From the number one party in the capital in 2019, it passed to third, from 37 to 24 seats. It is now Más Madrid who takes up the torch from the left: the party has 24 seats, or 16,9 percent of the vote.