Return of the PeeeeeePeeeeeeee

The kids at school laugh when I say ¨PP¨. The way they say it in Spanish is Pepe, not pee pee. And we all know what pee pee means. So when I've made attempts at conversation about the elections it usually involves lots of giggles. But I've also seen a surprising difference of opinion. I thought in a private Catholic school most kids would come from wealthy, conservative families. But, maybe half the kids in the classes where we've discussed the elections were not for the PP.

Let me explain. (And Spanish friends are welcome to correct me, please!) PP stands for partido popular. It's Spain's conservative party that was founded by a former minister of tourism during Franco's dictatorship. Hmmm...

Here is Alfredo Rubalcaba, presidential candidate from the socialist party (PSOE), and Mariano Rajoy, candidate from the conservative party (PP), during a recent debate.

In the very recent elections, the socialist party, PSOE suffered a major defeat by the PP. Mariano Rajoy is the new president. For the last two terms, Jose Zapatero has been president. From what I've heard, in the beginning he was okay. He made same sex marriage legal, raised the minimum wage and withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. He worked on a lot of social issues including gender-motivated violence and discrimination.
But once the crisis hit, his popularity sort of sank. His party broke promises and hasn't handled the crisis well at all. Needless to say lots of Spaniards were furious and decided to not vote for the PSOE this time around.

So with the recent elections there were much fewer people voting for PSOE. People are voting for different parties (in Spain there are more than two!) or perhaps some people were disenchanted and didn't vote at all. And then lots of people voted for PP so there you have it! The PP won and they won the majority, but most Spaniards did not vote for them.

Since the PP have absolute majority some Spaniards are uneasily awaiting what they're going to to. One concern is that they will reverse the law allowing same sex couples to marry. I can't see that happening! It would piss off so many people.

Spain definitely needs smart leadership right now. Many people are out of work and cuts in spending are squeezing people's pockets. There are more people on the streets and more people getting by on very little. I've heard one of the first things Rajoy wants to do is cut unemployment benefits. Hmmm. Doesn't sound like they are going to start out on the right foot!