The weather is nice but Vilanova is quiet. I hope that all our neighbours are busy voting. Party preferences but also voter participation and the election system in itself will be important factors in determining who wins the biggest number of seats in the parliament (las Cortes Generales). After 20.00 the election results will start to be reported and some ours later, one of the two big parties – PP and PSOE – will be declared the winner. According to all reliable polls, neither of them will come out with an absolute majority, so the small parties will play a key role in deciding who forms the new government.
Thanks to a fellow expat, I have found soitu.es which offers bloggers the possibility to publish the election results minute by minute. Personally, I look forward to monitoring outcome on all three levels: the Spanish state, Catalonia as a total but also the individual Catalan provinces. The focus of international attention will be on Madrid, but the seat allocation in Girona might offer more suspense.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
A Week for the Book
Many Catalans with children of school age have difficulties to help out with some of the homeworks. Nowadays, public education here is mainly carried out in Catalan, a language which today’s parents were free to talk with family and friends when they grew up, but were not taught to read or spell properly. During the Franco era, Catalan was banned from being used in radio, TV, churches and the school system.Only after the dictator died in 1975 could Catalan start to claim back lost territory. To encourage people to begin reading in their native tongue, in 1983 the first “Week of the Book in Catalan” (Setmana del llibre en Català) was organized in the Barcelona Sants train station. This is now an annual tradition and although Barcelona still holds the biggest celebration, several smaller towns have joined.
Yesterday (Saturday), Vilanova’s bookstores and public libraries took the help of volunteers – most of them local, but also some foreigners – for the public reading of an, apparently, famous book called La Plaça del Diamant by Mercè Rodoreda. I doubt that the event created new readers of Catalan literature, but consider it a nice demonstration of interest in a language, whose future people still dare not take for granted.
Friday, 7 March 2008
United Against Terrorism
Isaías Carrasco Miguel was a 43 year old former town councillor of Arrasate-Mondragón in the Basque Countries. Today, at 13.30, he was brutally shot down in front of his house and with his wife and daughter as witnesses.
The political parties of Spain are stopping their election campaigns and thus cancel the last meetings originally planned for tonight.
As a former town councillor (2003-07) Carrasco had the right to a body guard but had decided to do without. Obviously, he did not appreciate what cowards terrorists can be when selecting their victims.
ETA has hereby entered into the election campaign in the most disgusting way. To murder a democratically elected politican is an act which all political forces must immediately condemn. In Catalonia, this has already been done, unanimously. I understand why there is Basque nationalism, but there are no excuses for terrorism.
The political parties of Spain are stopping their election campaigns and thus cancel the last meetings originally planned for tonight.
As a former town councillor (2003-07) Carrasco had the right to a body guard but had decided to do without. Obviously, he did not appreciate what cowards terrorists can be when selecting their victims.
ETA has hereby entered into the election campaign in the most disgusting way. To murder a democratically elected politican is an act which all political forces must immediately condemn. In Catalonia, this has already been done, unanimously. I understand why there is Basque nationalism, but there are no excuses for terrorism.
A Reflection on Convergència i Unió
Convergència i Unió (CiU) is the right-wing party of Catalonia, but it is also the modern, right-wing political force which the whole of Spain so desperately needs. In the European Parliament, CiU belongs to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (where, from a Swedish perspective, we also find Folkpartiet and Centerpartiet). Their appeal is broad since, in fact, they are a federation of two parties.
# Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) is the bigger party. It was founded, among others, by Jordi Pujol as a union of different groups of Catalan nationalists, but is now a liberal party. Its leader, Artur Mas, heads up CiU’s activities within the Parliament of Catalonia.
# Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC), has a longer history and forms part of the Christian Democratic political tradition. This is the smaller party and, more importantly for the coming elections, where top candidate Duran i Lleida belongs.
During the coming years, the whole of Spain will have to face up to a number of challenges. It is true that we have had very strong economic growth during Zapatero’s four years as prime minister, but now we are following the rest of the world into a recession. That is when the lost competitiveness of Spanish companies, the high inflation and the unemployment bomb which threatens to explode among construction workers will demand urgent attention.
To ride through that turbulence, I am convinced that a PSOE government will benefit from gaining CiU’s support, rather than to have to depend on parties to their left. CiU’s program suggests measures to make the Spanish economy more dynamic, in order to create wealth and job opportunities. We find proposals to make the labour market less rigid through a "flexicurity" system as well as concrete plans for improving infrastructure (by road, by air as well as by railway). For long term success, they stress the need of quality education and investments to support innovation driven business development.
CiU counts on strong support from big industry as well as from SMEs and self-employed people. As opposed to PP, however, their program does not scare away typically non-conservative voters (feminists, gays etc.). The only right-wing people who will not feel at home within their framework are Spanish nationalist but, let us be realistic, this is Catalonia. While CiU manages to describe and defend the society I nowadays live in, PP does not. CiU are Catalan nationalists, that is a fact, but that does not disqualify them from serving as a source of inspiration for the rest of Spain.
A bonus with CiU is that Carles Campuzano from Vilanova i la Geltrú is the fourth name on their list for Barcelona, and since they currently holds six of the seats for this province, he is likely to be a member of the new parliament. That makes him the only representative of our town, something we have learnt to appreciate after the transport chaos which we went through last autumn. Possibly, Campuzano will not manage to make the other politicians respect Vilanova, but I promise to be content as long as he continues to do a good job for society as a whole.
# Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) is the bigger party. It was founded, among others, by Jordi Pujol as a union of different groups of Catalan nationalists, but is now a liberal party. Its leader, Artur Mas, heads up CiU’s activities within the Parliament of Catalonia.
# Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC), has a longer history and forms part of the Christian Democratic political tradition. This is the smaller party and, more importantly for the coming elections, where top candidate Duran i Lleida belongs.
During the coming years, the whole of Spain will have to face up to a number of challenges. It is true that we have had very strong economic growth during Zapatero’s four years as prime minister, but now we are following the rest of the world into a recession. That is when the lost competitiveness of Spanish companies, the high inflation and the unemployment bomb which threatens to explode among construction workers will demand urgent attention.
To ride through that turbulence, I am convinced that a PSOE government will benefit from gaining CiU’s support, rather than to have to depend on parties to their left. CiU’s program suggests measures to make the Spanish economy more dynamic, in order to create wealth and job opportunities. We find proposals to make the labour market less rigid through a "flexicurity" system as well as concrete plans for improving infrastructure (by road, by air as well as by railway). For long term success, they stress the need of quality education and investments to support innovation driven business development.
CiU counts on strong support from big industry as well as from SMEs and self-employed people. As opposed to PP, however, their program does not scare away typically non-conservative voters (feminists, gays etc.). The only right-wing people who will not feel at home within their framework are Spanish nationalist but, let us be realistic, this is Catalonia. While CiU manages to describe and defend the society I nowadays live in, PP does not. CiU are Catalan nationalists, that is a fact, but that does not disqualify them from serving as a source of inspiration for the rest of Spain.
A bonus with CiU is that Carles Campuzano from Vilanova i la Geltrú is the fourth name on their list for Barcelona, and since they currently holds six of the seats for this province, he is likely to be a member of the new parliament. That makes him the only representative of our town, something we have learnt to appreciate after the transport chaos which we went through last autumn. Possibly, Campuzano will not manage to make the other politicians respect Vilanova, but I promise to be content as long as he continues to do a good job for society as a whole.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Esquerra v.s. CUP
The movement CUP (Candidatura d’Unitat Popular) and ERC have a lot in common. They both want independence for Catalonia, they fight to defend the Catalan language and culture and share values on social policy and economic organisation. However, for the coming elections CUP calls on people not to vote. They disagree with the political class of today and especially with those politicians who claim that they want power for the sake of Catalonia, but end up supporting the centralist oppression of society here (read ERC).
Probably wary not to stir up a conflict with potential voters, ERC is surprisingly passive in answering the criticism from CUP. Instead, they highlight what can be the consequences of non-participation among left-wing voters. In a YouTube clip, ERC is currently sending out a warning that, due to the Spanish electoral system, as little as a 1.000 votes can make a difference in the province of Girona. One of the seats which ERC currently holds, might end up with PP.
CUP is strong in Vilanova. In the municipal elections 2007 they could celebrate that Eduard Pinilla won a seat as a town councillor. How can the same CUP now claim that non-participation in elections is a way to reveal their lack of legitimacy? Let us remember that Pinilla's success came in elections where only 52% of the electoral roll cared to go to the polls. The Catalan participation in the elections to the Spanish parliament will easily beat that, so which ones are more legitimate?
In his work Dirty Hands (Les Mains Sales), Jean Paul Sartre lets Hoederer ask Hugo:
How you cling to your purity… Purity is an idea that belongs to a fakir or a monk. You intellectuals, you bourgeois anarchists, you make it an excuse for doing nothing. For doing nothing, for resting still, with your elbows glued to your sides, wearing gloves. My hands are dirty. Right to the shoulders. I have plunged them in mud and blood… Do you imagine you can govern innocently?
Although I do not particularly agree with ERC’s program, I consider that they do the right thing in accepting the realities of politics. You have to compromise in case you want to achieve something here and now.
CUP’s alternative is to replace the existing Spanish institutions with new ones for the Catalan Countries (els Països Catalans), probably a vision attractive also to ERC voters. But even if ERC and CUP join forces they are a minority in Catalonia and so their new society remains a dream for a distant future. Until they reach there, is CUP convinced that splitting the Catalan left is what they really want to do?
Probably wary not to stir up a conflict with potential voters, ERC is surprisingly passive in answering the criticism from CUP. Instead, they highlight what can be the consequences of non-participation among left-wing voters. In a YouTube clip, ERC is currently sending out a warning that, due to the Spanish electoral system, as little as a 1.000 votes can make a difference in the province of Girona. One of the seats which ERC currently holds, might end up with PP.
CUP is strong in Vilanova. In the municipal elections 2007 they could celebrate that Eduard Pinilla won a seat as a town councillor. How can the same CUP now claim that non-participation in elections is a way to reveal their lack of legitimacy? Let us remember that Pinilla's success came in elections where only 52% of the electoral roll cared to go to the polls. The Catalan participation in the elections to the Spanish parliament will easily beat that, so which ones are more legitimate?
In his work Dirty Hands (Les Mains Sales), Jean Paul Sartre lets Hoederer ask Hugo:
How you cling to your purity… Purity is an idea that belongs to a fakir or a monk. You intellectuals, you bourgeois anarchists, you make it an excuse for doing nothing. For doing nothing, for resting still, with your elbows glued to your sides, wearing gloves. My hands are dirty. Right to the shoulders. I have plunged them in mud and blood… Do you imagine you can govern innocently?
Although I do not particularly agree with ERC’s program, I consider that they do the right thing in accepting the realities of politics. You have to compromise in case you want to achieve something here and now.
CUP’s alternative is to replace the existing Spanish institutions with new ones for the Catalan Countries (els Països Catalans), probably a vision attractive also to ERC voters. But even if ERC and CUP join forces they are a minority in Catalonia and so their new society remains a dream for a distant future. Until they reach there, is CUP convinced that splitting the Catalan left is what they really want to do?
The Useful Vote - on the Spanish Election System
With the high number of parties represented, I have assumed that the seats of the Spanish parliament are assigned through proportional representation. That is only partly true. The constituencies are the same as the provinces and the reason for the distortion is that each province has the right to a minimum of 2 seats (plus 1 each for Ceuta and Melilla). Using this method, the first 102 of in total 350 seats are allocated. Only the remaining 248 are split proportionally based on the number of inhabitants with permanent residence (N.B: not according to the electoral roll) of each province. For us foreigners, this means that although we are not entitled to vote, we are taken into consideration when seats are allocated to the province where we live.
This results in a situation where the value of a single vote is not the same throughout the state. That, in turn, gives the parties incentives to think in terms more typical for “first past the post” systems, when they decide were to spend time and money during the election campaign. For examples, let us use figures from the last elections (2004) to see how 47 seats were allocated to the 4 Catalan provinces.
Barcelona (where Vilanova i la Geltrú belongs) is Catalonia’s by far biggest constituency. In 2004, 3.052.310 people cast their vote to elect representatives for 31 seats. We could thus say that there was 1 seat per each 98.462 voters, or that you needed 3,2% of the vote to win 1 seat. The smallest party represented was ICV-EUA which won 2 seats thanks to 6,5% of the total vote of the province.
Lleida is the other extreme. With 234.244 people voting in 2004 and 4 seats in the parliament, each seat cost 58.561 votes (substantinally lower than in Barcelona) but roughly 25% of the total vote. The smallest party represented was ERC which won 1 seat thanks to 21.5% of the votes. PP, with 14.6% of the vote, did not win any seat in this province.
Tarragona and Girona had 6 seats each in the outgoing parliament, so the proportionality of the allocation is slightly higher than in Lleida, but very far from what we see in Barcelona. We can therefore conclude that any new party has bigger chances of winning parliament representation by focusing on Barcelona, rather than on any of the other Catalan provinces or Catalonia as a whole.
The system also has implications for tactical voting, so it is not surprising that some Catalan parties talk about the useful vote (el vot útil). As an example, in Tarragona in 2004, the last seat went to PP, the 4th biggest party with 17.0%, while the 5th biggest party, ICV-EUA reached only 3,8%. In this year’s election, has ICV-EUA invested enough in their Tarragona campaign to radically narrow that gap? If not, one could argue that a left leaning Catalan nationalist should rather vote for a second best option like ERC, to make sure that they keep their 1 seat, rather than to hope for ICV-EUA to reach the number of votes needed.
I was already looking forward to the outcome of the elections on the state level, but now the vote allocation of each province will be exciting. And let us remember that although they differ in value, it is clear that every vote counts.
Remarks:
# The methods used for allocating votes or calculating the percentages needed for a seat are not the correct ones, but merely serve as simplified approximations for my argumentation.
# Under no circumstances do I instruct people in Tarragona to only vote for parties which already have seats in the parliament representing their province.
This results in a situation where the value of a single vote is not the same throughout the state. That, in turn, gives the parties incentives to think in terms more typical for “first past the post” systems, when they decide were to spend time and money during the election campaign. For examples, let us use figures from the last elections (2004) to see how 47 seats were allocated to the 4 Catalan provinces.
Barcelona (where Vilanova i la Geltrú belongs) is Catalonia’s by far biggest constituency. In 2004, 3.052.310 people cast their vote to elect representatives for 31 seats. We could thus say that there was 1 seat per each 98.462 voters, or that you needed 3,2% of the vote to win 1 seat. The smallest party represented was ICV-EUA which won 2 seats thanks to 6,5% of the total vote of the province.
Lleida is the other extreme. With 234.244 people voting in 2004 and 4 seats in the parliament, each seat cost 58.561 votes (substantinally lower than in Barcelona) but roughly 25% of the total vote. The smallest party represented was ERC which won 1 seat thanks to 21.5% of the votes. PP, with 14.6% of the vote, did not win any seat in this province.
Tarragona and Girona had 6 seats each in the outgoing parliament, so the proportionality of the allocation is slightly higher than in Lleida, but very far from what we see in Barcelona. We can therefore conclude that any new party has bigger chances of winning parliament representation by focusing on Barcelona, rather than on any of the other Catalan provinces or Catalonia as a whole.
The system also has implications for tactical voting, so it is not surprising that some Catalan parties talk about the useful vote (el vot útil). As an example, in Tarragona in 2004, the last seat went to PP, the 4th biggest party with 17.0%, while the 5th biggest party, ICV-EUA reached only 3,8%. In this year’s election, has ICV-EUA invested enough in their Tarragona campaign to radically narrow that gap? If not, one could argue that a left leaning Catalan nationalist should rather vote for a second best option like ERC, to make sure that they keep their 1 seat, rather than to hope for ICV-EUA to reach the number of votes needed.
I was already looking forward to the outcome of the elections on the state level, but now the vote allocation of each province will be exciting. And let us remember that although they differ in value, it is clear that every vote counts.
Remarks:
# The methods used for allocating votes or calculating the percentages needed for a seat are not the correct ones, but merely serve as simplified approximations for my argumentation.
# Under no circumstances do I instruct people in Tarragona to only vote for parties which already have seats in the parliament representing their province.
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Small is Beautiful
The second TV debate between José-Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy Brey has just finished and I am quite happy that it was the last big one before the elections. Possibly, it is due to the two-party format, but at an early stage tonight I was bored with the aggressive confrontations and the mutual avoidance of answers.
Many people in Spain live in provinces where PSOE and PP are the only alternatives in case you want to vote for a candidate with a realistic chance to win a seat in the parliament. I am very happy that this is not the case in Catalonia.
In a couple of hours we will have the results of the polls on who won tonight. Whoever that is, I am confident that one conclusion will be that the TV debates have not had any major impact on how people will vote coming Sunday.
Therefore, I ask all Catalan parties to stop complaining about not being present tonight and instead focus on presenting their own messages in a positive way. If I were a citizen of this country, I would be more inclined to vote for you now than two and a half hours ago.
Many people in Spain live in provinces where PSOE and PP are the only alternatives in case you want to vote for a candidate with a realistic chance to win a seat in the parliament. I am very happy that this is not the case in Catalonia.
In a couple of hours we will have the results of the polls on who won tonight. Whoever that is, I am confident that one conclusion will be that the TV debates have not had any major impact on how people will vote coming Sunday.
Therefore, I ask all Catalan parties to stop complaining about not being present tonight and instead focus on presenting their own messages in a positive way. If I were a citizen of this country, I would be more inclined to vote for you now than two and a half hours ago.
Monday, 3 March 2008
ICV-EUiA are Like Watermelons – Green Surface but Red Inside
I must admit that it took a long time before I took notice of him. It was only last autumn, when people commuting from Vilanova to Barcelona by train had their travel time doubled during several weeks. Most Catalan politicians showed their discontent, but one of them stood out as more committed and more articulate; Joan Herrera. Last Saturday he visited Vilanova.
Herrera’s party, ICV-EUiA, does not demand independence for Catalonia but rather wants for Spain to be a federal, plurinational state. I like that, especially since they combine it with a positive attitude to the European Union but also a desire for political decision making to be as decentralised as possible.
Moving over to social policy, this party was a driving force when Spain gave homosexuals the right to not only get married, but also to adopt children. Now when they fight for cost-free abortions with minimal restrictions and also for a ‘death with dignity’ – the right to euthanasia - I feel a bit challenged, but would agree in the end.
Spain’s two big parties, PP and PSOE, rarely agree on anything, but when it comes to environmental issues, Herrera reveals that they can be sadly similar. When they last were in power, both parties spent 97% of the money aimed for railway infrastructure on the high-speed train AVE, and 3% on the rest of the network. At the same time 3% of the people in Spain will take the AVE regularly, while 97% use the other train lines. Here, ICV-EUiA obviously has a role to play.
Then we reach economic policy and Herrera claims that Spain’s strong growth indicates that wealth has already been created and that it is now time to re-distribute. He wants to raise minimum salaries and pensions as well as build more protected housing and finance it through increased taxes for companies and rich people. In his society, companies simply have to accept new responsibilities. Now I start to feel uncomfortable, and realise that words like competitiveness and entrepreneurism are being left out of his discussion.
I plan to keep an eye on Herrera during the coming legislature and I am confident that he will prove faithful to his ideals. However, he finished his speech in Vilanova by stressing that to "rebel is to exist" (“rebel·lar-se és existir”) and that is where I feel too boringly realistic to follow him. I hope that he will attract many people to his progressive program, but I am not one of them. I am sorry.
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Visiting the Joan Miró Foundation with the Children
One thing which we really like about schools here is how the teachers let famous Catalan personalities inspire the children. Already as a three-year-old, did our oldest son start to explore the works of Joan Miró, among others the huge sculpture Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird) and it must have made quite an impression on him. Last Friday, he brought home a clay version of it from school and he had made it on his own initiative. We are, of course, as proud as only parents can be.To feed his imagination, last weekend we brought both our children to the Fundació Joan Miró on the Montjuic. Due to bad planning, we had to start with a lunch there, which I do not recommend. My wife and I enjoyed the unexpectedly elaborate dishes, but our children did not. Nor is the restaurant layout particularly child friendly.
When it was finally time to visit the collection, we had already made plans to take turns with the children, but did not have any problems to enjoy it together. The two-year-old liked the wide corridors and was particularly exited with the small outdoor area. His older brother topped that by showing a bit of interest in the art as well, above all for the big and colourful pieces.At the reception, visitors with children can ask for the leaflet ‘Miró en família’. It is in Catalan (we never checked whether it was available in other languages) and, among other things, gives a list of details for your children to identify in the
paintings and sculptures – the typical three hairs, two different kinds of stars, the moon and, yes, even the vulva, of which Miró’s art admittedly offers a generous amount.The visit made our oldest one feel just as inspired as we had hoped for. As soon as we came back home he asked for his scissors, his felt pens, and glue and paper and then concentrated on work. About half an hour later he proudly presented the result: an AVE train. Well, at least it was painted in many colours.
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Fighting for the Vote - a Who is Who of the Catalan Candidates
In Catalonia, to run a public debate between the top candidates from the province of Barcelona has become a tradition and tonight (Friday) was the big night.
For a Swede, used to multi-party system, I must say that this felt quite familiar. There were the five representatives, each eager to win the vote for their party but at the same time fully aware that, after the elections, some of them will need to co-operate in order for a government to be formed.
On face value, this was a debate between PSC (PSOE) and four opposition parties, but in reality everybody knows that incumbent PSOE can at least count on passive support from ICV-EUA, CiU and ERC in order to keep PP out of power.
The two-hour debate was held on five separate topics: social policy, economics and infrastructure, challenges for the future, Catalonia’s relationship with the Spanish state and, to conclude, a possibility for each candidate to request for the audience’s vote. Nowadays used to talk shows on Catalan and Spanish radio, where all people try to speak at the same time, I was surprised by the correct tone and the relatively limited amount of interruptions.
I cannot say that any of the representatives presented any news to their party program, respectively, so instead I prefer to make a personal reflection on the politicians.
Carme Chacón (PSC) is a fresh young face in the sitting government. She did a good job in not only asking people to vote for her, but also asking Catalonia to vote - for the sake of Spain.
J.A. Duran i Lleida (CiU) presents right-wing policies in a non-aggressive way. That we have to create wealth before we can re-distribute it certainly makes sense to me.
Joan Ridao (ERC) appeals to me with his unaffected and rational reasoning. The question is whether his reluctant potential voters, whom he needs to convince to go to the polls, see him the same way.
Dolors Nadal (PP) follows her party tactics well. They do not hope to win over voters and therefore have decided to stir doubt about PSOE’s policies to make people lose interest and stay at home on election day.
Joan Herrera (ICV-EUA) forgot to smile during the first half hour of the program and therefore lost one of his biggest assets. Then started the discussion on infrastructure and as soon as he could talk about trains, he revealed what a good debater he is.
Albert Rivera (Ciutadans/Ciutadanos) deserves to be mentioned although he was not allowed to take part today, since his party is not yet represented in Madrid. As a protest, he waited outside the TV3 studios during the debate. I do not particularly agree with his party’s program, but he obviously has a strong fighting spirit.
For a Swede, used to multi-party system, I must say that this felt quite familiar. There were the five representatives, each eager to win the vote for their party but at the same time fully aware that, after the elections, some of them will need to co-operate in order for a government to be formed.
On face value, this was a debate between PSC (PSOE) and four opposition parties, but in reality everybody knows that incumbent PSOE can at least count on passive support from ICV-EUA, CiU and ERC in order to keep PP out of power.
The two-hour debate was held on five separate topics: social policy, economics and infrastructure, challenges for the future, Catalonia’s relationship with the Spanish state and, to conclude, a possibility for each candidate to request for the audience’s vote. Nowadays used to talk shows on Catalan and Spanish radio, where all people try to speak at the same time, I was surprised by the correct tone and the relatively limited amount of interruptions.
I cannot say that any of the representatives presented any news to their party program, respectively, so instead I prefer to make a personal reflection on the politicians.
Carme Chacón (PSC) is a fresh young face in the sitting government. She did a good job in not only asking people to vote for her, but also asking Catalonia to vote - for the sake of Spain.
J.A. Duran i Lleida (CiU) presents right-wing policies in a non-aggressive way. That we have to create wealth before we can re-distribute it certainly makes sense to me.
Joan Ridao (ERC) appeals to me with his unaffected and rational reasoning. The question is whether his reluctant potential voters, whom he needs to convince to go to the polls, see him the same way.
Dolors Nadal (PP) follows her party tactics well. They do not hope to win over voters and therefore have decided to stir doubt about PSOE’s policies to make people lose interest and stay at home on election day.
Joan Herrera (ICV-EUA) forgot to smile during the first half hour of the program and therefore lost one of his biggest assets. Then started the discussion on infrastructure and as soon as he could talk about trains, he revealed what a good debater he is.
Albert Rivera (Ciutadans/Ciutadanos) deserves to be mentioned although he was not allowed to take part today, since his party is not yet represented in Madrid. As a protest, he waited outside the TV3 studios during the debate. I do not particularly agree with his party’s program, but he obviously has a strong fighting spirit.
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