Political parties in Spain

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Spain there are six parties or party alliances represented in parliament that are active all over Spain: the social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers Party ( Partido Socialista Obrero Español , PSOE), the conservative People's Party ( Partido Popular , PP), the right-wing VOX , the left Alliance Unidas Podemos (with Podemos and Izquierda Unida ), the liberal Ciudadanos (C's) and the left-ecological Más País . In addition, regional parties play a decisive role, mainly because of the different nationalities within Spain.

The Spanish party landscape was - unlike z. B. the Italian - remarkably stable for three decades since the mid-1980s. A significant change came with the European elections in 2014 and the regional and local elections in May 2015 , in which, in addition to the previous protagonists PSOE , PP , IU and UPyD, the new left-wing party Podemos and the Ciudadanos (C's) and party, which has so far only been significant in Catalonia later VOX ( Spanish parliamentary elections April 2019 ) established for the whole of Spain .

Characteristics of the party system

Legal framework (parties, party associations, coaliciones )

The party system is characterized by its complexity. On the one hand, this is due to the legal framework. In addition to the parties as such, Spanish party law also knows party associations ( federaciones ): These are long-term amalgamations of several parties with their own legal personality and their own structures, although the individual member parties also remain legally existing and continue to have their own organs. Such federaciones are z. B. at the left socialist IU or the Catalan-bourgeois CiU.

Furthermore, the Spanish electoral law allows joint election proposals from different parties or party associations, which are known as coaliciones . Legally, these coaliciones only exist as nominees for the duration of the electoral process. Since the list and distribution of seats in the Spanish electoral system takes place exclusively at the level of the constituencies (usually the provinces), it can happen that a party in the same election in constituency A as part of a coalición , in constituency B alone or in one coalición with a different party than in constituency A. On the other hand, there are coaliciones that are regularly formed by the same parties over and over again in the same constellation (for example, from 1986 to 1992 the IU was initially only one coalición formed for each election ).

Finally, it can happen that candidates elected from the list of the same coalición , but who belong to different parties, join different parliamentary groups and, conversely, that MPs elected from the lists of different parties join together to form a common group (often around those for formation to achieve the minimum number of mandates required by a parliamentary group).

Regional parties

Parlcat2.svg
Parlcat21.svg
Distribution of seats in the regional parliament of Catalonia after the 2012 election: in the classic left-right scheme (above), according to the attitude towards the question of the independence of the region (below)

On the other hand, the party landscape is complex because, in addition to the nationally active parties (especially PSOE, PP, VOX, Unidas Podemos , Ciudadanos ) there are a large number of regional parties . In some regions there are even several (e.g. in Catalonia the left-wing ERC and the bourgeois PDeCAT ). The parties can not only be classified according to the classic left-right scheme, but also on a spectrum that describes the attitude to the question of the relationship between the regions and the state, from the support of a central state on the one hand to the advocates of the Independence on the other hand is enough.

Since the threshold clause in Spanish electoral law is also only applied at electoral district level, the regional parties are not only represented in local and regional parliaments, but also regularly in large numbers in the Spanish parliament as a whole . The two axes on which the party landscape is based then result in various alliance possibilities. In particular, the two bourgeois parties CiU (Catalonia) and PNV (Basque Country) served in the legislative periods in which neither the PSOE nor the PP had an absolute majority, the ruling party in Madrid (1989–1996 and 2004–2011 of the PSOE) ; 1996–2000 of the PP) as a “majority procurer”: “ideologically” and particularly in economic policy terms, as bourgeois parties they have more in common with the conservative PP, while on the other axis they are closer to the social democratic PSOE, which is more open to decentralization than the PP.

These various alliance possibilities also arise in the regional parliaments. For example, from 2003 to 2010 the ERC in Catalonia belonged to a left-wing coalition with the PSC and ICV-EUiA. Since the end of 2012, however, it has tolerated a minority government of the Catalan bourgeois CiU or ruled together with the bourgeois PDeCAT.

The spectrum of regional parties is also diverse: it ranges from parties that see themselves merely as representatives of regional interests and often as an alternative to the social democratic PSOE and the conservative PP in the political “center”, to those that support their independence Enter regions of Spain, such as the Catalan ERC and PDeCAT.

Period of bipartidismo imperfecto (1977-2015)

Mandates of the two largest parties in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies since 1977 (ruling party outlined in black)

The party landscape that existed from 1977 to 2015 has often been described with the catchphrase of the "imperfect two-party system" (bipartidismo imperfecto) .

As a two-party system because at the national level there were two large parties (initially the Christian Democratic UCD, later the conservative PP and the Social Democratic PSOE) that were far ahead of the other political forces. In the general Spanish elections from 1993 to 2011, these two parties together always received at least 73% of the vote (high in 2008: 84%). Due to the effects of the electoral system, these two parties have consistently made up at least 85% of the members of the House of Representatives since 1993 (high 2008–2011: 92%).

As “imperfect” because this dominant position of the two major parties led to an absolute majority of the strongest party in only four of the ten legislative periods up to 2015 (1982–1986 and 1986–1989: PSOE, 2000–2004 and 2011–2015: PP). In the remaining legislative periods, the regional parties (above all CiU and PNV, but also CC, ERC, BNG) ensured the governability of the country by the strongest party by voting in favor or abstaining in the election of the prime minister or in votes on bills but without a real coalition government ever taking place at the national level.

Changes in the party landscape since 2015

In the 2015 election, the two major parties' share of the vote fell to 51% and their share of seats in the House of Representatives to 61%. A new party to the left of the PSOE was established with Podemos and a center party between the PSOE and PP with Ciudadanos . With the election in April 2019 , VOX joined the PP on the right.

In none of the legislative periods up to 2015 did the third strongest power in the House of Representatives ever have more than 23 members. Since then, this threshold has always been determined by both the third strongest (2015: Podemos with 69 mandates; 2016: Unidos Podemos with 71; April 2019: Ciudadanos with 57; November 2019: VOX with 52 mandates) and the fourth strongest force (2015: Ciudadanos with 40 mandates; 2016: Ciudadanos with 32; April 2019: Unidas Podemos with 42; November 2019: Unidas Podemos with 35 mandates).

In the legislative periods up to 2015 in which there was no absolute majority, the strongest party only lacked an absolute majority between one mandate (PSOE, 1989) and a maximum of 20 mandates (PP, 1996). In 2015, however, there were 53 seats for the PP, 39 seats for the PPs in 2016, 53 seats for the PSOE after the election on April 28, 2019 and 56 seats for the PSOE after the November 10, 2019 election . The formation of a government is correspondingly more complicated, especially since the Catalan parties (JxCat - formerly CDC or PDeCAT - and ERC ), which before 2015 often served as "majority procurers " at the national level, have since then only been eligible for this role to a limited extent due to their separatist course come. After the 2015 and April 2019 elections, the formation of a government failed, so new elections were held. In the XII. For the first time in the legislative period (2016–2019), a constructive vote of no confidence was successful (change from a PP to a PSOE government). Because the new PSOE government could not find a majority for its budget, the parliament was dissolved early. After the November 2019 election, there was a coalition government (PSOE / Unidas Podemos ) for the first time , but it is also a minority government .

Parties in detail

Active parties throughout Spain

  • The Partido Socialista Obrero Español ("Spanish Socialist Workers' Party", PSOE for short ) has been a social democratic party since the end of the dictatorship. Together with the PP, it is considered to be one of the two people 's parties in Spain and has also always achieved very high election results in the past ( 2008 : 43.6%), which in the context of the Europe-wide changes in party systems has recently collapsed even more than in the PP ( parliamentary elections 2016 : 22.6%). In contrast to the PP, the PSOE also achieved relatively good results in Catalonia and Basque Country, the communities with the strongest regional nationalisms (e.g. 39.5% in the 2004 Catalan elections). In Catalonia, the PSOE is represented by the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC), a formally independent regional sister party, which is, however, firmly linked to the PSOE. The PSOE also operates under regional names and abbreviations in some other Autonomous Communities, e.g. B. PSdeG in Galicia or PSE-EE in the Basque Country. The PSOE provided the Prime Minister from 1982 to 1996 ( Felipe González ), from 2004 to 2011 ( José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero ) and since 2018 ( Pedro Sánchez ). At the European level, it is part of the Social Democratic Party of Europe and currently has 21 members of the European Parliament.
  • The Partido Popular (“People's Party”, PP for short ) is a Christian-conservative and economically liberal party. She is the successor of the Alianza Popular , which emerged from parts of the Francoist government apparatus. In general Spanish elections in 2011 she achieved her best result with 44.6% of the vote and her worst result in the April 2019 election with 16.7%. traditionally a high share of the vote ( 2008 : 40.1%, 2016 : 33.0%), but is much weaker in the Basque Country and in Catalonia , which is mainly due to the contrast between central Spanish vs. regional nationalism is due. In the Autonomous Community of Navarre it was represented since 1991 by the sister party Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN); After the alliance broke in October 2008, the PP then rebuilt its own regional association there. The PP provided the Spanish Prime Minister from 1996 to 2004 ( José María Aznar ) and from 2011 to 2018 ( Mariano Rajoy ). At European level, the PP is part of the European People's Party and currently has 13 members in the European Parliament.
  • The right-wing national party VOX was founded in 2014. She achieved her first election success in December 2018 when she entered the Andalusian regional parliament. In the two general Spanish elections in 2019, it achieved a share of the vote of 10.3% (April) and 15.1% (November), which makes it currently the third strongest force in the House of Representatives. At the European level, VOX is part of the European Conservatives and Reformers (EKR) and is currently represented by four members in the European Parliament.
  • The left-wing party Podemos (“ We can do it ”), founded in 2014, emerged from the protest movements of 2011 and 2012 . In the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2015, it immediately became the third-strongest force with a share of the vote of 20.7%. Since 2016 she has been running for general Spanish elections (and partly also at regional level) together with the IU and other left-wing parties under the name Unidos Podemos and Unidas Podemos . Since 2020, with its Secretary General Pablo Iglesias, it has been one of the Deputy Prime Ministers in a coalition government with the PSOE. At the European level, Podemos is part of Now the People and currently has three members in the European Parliament.
  • The left-wing socialist Izquierda Unida ("United Left", IU for short ) is not a party in the true sense of the word, but a possible party association ( federación ) under Spanish law , to which various partly regionally organized member parties belong, the most important of which is the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) ) is. Izquierda Unida also leads z. T. regionally different names, z. B. Ezker Anitza in the Basque Country. The “sister party” in Catalonia is Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (EUiA), which is itself a federación of various left-wing Catalan parties. EUiA is officially not part of the IU, but an independent organization, but according to a provision in the IU's statutes, it is treated as if it were a regional association when appointing all bodies (party congresses, board of directors, etc.). Since it was founded in 1986, the IU's share of the vote in the Spanish parliamentary elections has ranged between 3.7% (2015) and 10.5% (1996), making it the strongest force on the left of the PSOE until the appearance of Podemos . Since 2016, she has been running for all-Spanish elections (and partly also at regional level) together with Podemos and other left-wing parties under the name Unidos Podemos and Unidas Podemos . In Europe, the IU belongs to the European Left and currently has a member of the European Parliament.
  • Ciudadanos - Partido de la Ciudadania (“Citizens - Party of Citizenship”, C’s for short) is a liberal party that rejects regional nationalisms and advocates the unity of Spain. She has been represented in the regional parliament of Catalonia since 2006. Until 2014, the party was limited to Catalonia only. Ciudadanos have been represented in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies since 2015 and since then have achieved their best result (15.9% of the vote) in the April 2019 election and their worst (6.8%) in the November 2019 election. At European level, Ciudadanos are part of it of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and currently represented by seven MEPs in the European Parliament.
  • The left party Más País was founded under the name Más Madrid by the former mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena to participate in the regional and local elections in May 2019. A little later, Podemos co-founder Íñigo Errejón joined Más Madrid after internal party disputes . Thereupon the party expanded its radius of action to the national level and took on the name Más País . In the November 2019 election, she joined an electoral alliance with the green party Equo , Chunta Aragonesista and Compromís . This (which, however, did not run in all constituencies) received 2.4% of the votes and three seats.

Regional parties

Due to the Spanish electoral system (allocation of seats and threshold clause only at the level of the provincial constituencies), some regional parties are also represented in the Spanish parliament. In their regions of origin, these parties are e.g. Sometimes much more important than the two large Spanish parties. In several regions there is both a conservative-bourgeois and a left-wing regional party. In Spanish usage, regional parties are often referred to as "nationalists" - at least those regional parties who are particularly keen on independence or even independence.

The following regional parties are represented in the Spanish House of Representatives and (with the exception of ¡Teruel Existe! ) Also in the respective regional parliaments:

  • Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya ("Republican Left of Catalonia", ERC for short) is a pan-Catalan left-wing nationalist party whose long-term goal is an independent Catalan state that not only covers the region of Catalonia, but also the other Països Catalans (the region of Valencia, the Balearic Islands , Northern Catalonia and the Franja de Aragón ). Accordingly, the party organization also includes these other areas, although the party in these areas lags far behind that in the region of Catalonia in terms of its political importance. In the elections to the all-Spanish parliament, in which the ERC was continuously represented from the end of the Franco dictatorship until the period from 1986 to 1993, the party achieved a share of the vote in Catalonia between 3% and 25%, in the elections to the regional parliament of Catalonia she achieved results between 4% (1988) and 21% (2017). At the European level, ERC is part of the European Free Alliance , an alliance of regionalist parties. The ERC currently has two MEPs.
  • Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català (Catalan European Democratic Party, PDeCAT for short) is a liberal Catalan separatist party and successor organization to the Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), which has been dissolved since 2016. So far, PDeCAT competed under the name Junts per Catalunya (JuntsxCAT). In the two elections to the Spanish parliament in 2019, JuntsxCAT achieved a share of the votes of 12.05% (April) and 13.68% (November) in the region of Catalonia and thus currently has eight members. In the 2017 election to the regional parliament of Catalonia, JuntsxCAT achieved a share of the vote of 21.7% and isthe prime ministerwith Quim Torra . PDeCAT was expelledfrom the European party Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in 2018 because of the corruption affairs of its predecessor party, the CDC, and its separatist course.
  • Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (“Candidature of the People's Unity”, CUP for short) is an anti-capitalist Pan-Catalan party founded in 1991, which advocates independence. It is organized in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the regions of Valencia and Aragon. After initially only being active at the municipal level, the CUP took part in the regional elections in Catalonia for the first time in 2012. In the regional elections she achieved a share of the vote between 3.5% (2012) and 8.2% (2015). Since the November 2019 election, she has also been represented in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies with two members.
  • Catalunya en Comú is an amalgamation of the left-Catalan parties Barcelona en Comú of the mayoress of Barcelona Ada Colau , Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds ("Initiative for Catalonia Greens", ICV for short ), and EUiA and the green party Equo.
  • Eusko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco ("Basque Nationalist Party", EAJ- PNV for short) is a Basque bourgeois nationalist party. In addition to the nationalist orientation, the party is conservative-Christian. She advocates a greatly expanded autonomy and independence of the Basque Country ( Plan Ibarretxe ). Since the end of the dictatorship, it was consistently the strongest political force in the Basque Autonomous Community, where it was the head of government ( Lehendakari )from 1980 to 2009 and again since 2012. The PNV is also active in Navarre and the French Basque Country , where it lags far behind that in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in terms of its political importance. It has been represented by five to eight MPs in the Spanish parliament since 1977. The PNV is a member of the European Democratic Party and is currently represented by one member in the European Parliament.
  • EH Bildu is a party association of the Basque-left nationalist parties Sortu , Eusko Alkartasuna ("Basque Solidarity", EA for short) and Alternatiba Eraikitzen . EH Bildu has five members in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies. In the Basque regional parliament it is the second largest group with 18 seats and the fourth largest in the regional parliament of Navarre with seven members.
  • Compromís is an alliance of left regional parties in the Valencia region. It includes the parties Bloc Nacionalista Valencià (BLOC), Iniciativa del Poble Valencià (IdPV) and Verds Equo del País Valencià ( VerdsEquo ). Compromís is 17 in the regional parliament of the Region of Valencia and one in the Spanish parliament. Compromís has four ministers in the regional government (coalition with the PSOE).
  • Coalición Canaria ("Canarian Coalition", CC or CCa for short) is a party association of various Canarian regional and island parties, which is located in the political center. The CC has been the Prime Minister of the Canary Islands from 1993 to 2019 without interruption and has since been represented by one to four members in the Spanish parliament. At elections she came and still occurs in electoral alliances with other Canarian regional parties. Coalición Canaria is a member of the European Democratic Party .
  • Nueva Canarias ( NC ) is a center-left regional party in the Canary Islands, which emerged in 2005 as a split from the Coalición Canaria . She stood in regional elections in electoral alliances with various island parties and is currently represented by five members in the regional parliament. The party currently has one MP in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies.
  • Unión del Pueblo Navarro ("Union of the Navarre People", UPN for short) is a conservative regional party in Navarre, which speaks out in particular against the unification of the Autonomous Community of Navarre with the Basque Country, as called for by Basque nationalist parties. In 1991 the PP dissolved its regional association in Navarre, which was merged into the UPN. From then on, the relationship between the PP and the UPN was roughly the same as that between the CDU and CSU in Germany. However, this alliance broke up in October 2008 and the PP rebuilt its own regional association. The UPN has been the strongest political group in the regional parliament of Navarre since 1991 and also the prime minister of this region from 1996 to 2015. For the two Spanish parliamentary elections in 2019, UPN ran together with PP and Ciudadanos in the constituency of Navarra under the name Navarra Suma and has two MPs.
  • Bloque Nacionalista Galego ("Galician Nationalist Block", BNG for short) is a left-wing Galician nationalist party. In the elections to the Galician regional parliament, in which the BNG has been represented without interruption since 1981, the party received between 4% (1985) and 25% (1997) of the votes. From 1996 to 2015, the BNG was also represented in the Spanish parliament with two or three members. In the November 2019 election, the BNG again succeeded in entering the Spanish House of Representatives with one representative. BNG is a member of the European Free Alliance .
  • Partido Regionalista de Cantabria ("Cantabrian RegionalParty", PRC for short) is a party of the political center in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria . She has been continuously represented in the regional parliament since the end of the Franco dictatorship, with votes ranging between 7% (1983) and 38% (2019). It was represented in coalitions with the PP or PSOE in the regional government from 1995 to 2011 and was the prime minister of the region from 2003 to 2011. Since 2015, it has again provided the Prime Minister of Cantabria in a coalition with the PSOE. Since the April 2019 election, she has also been represented by a member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies.
  • ¡Teruel Existe! , is not a political party, but a citizens' movement in the province of Teruel , which ran as a group of voters in the election for the Spanish House of Representatives in November 2019, became the strongest force in the constituency of Teruel (identical to the province) with 26.7% and thus won a parliamentary mandate . She sees herself as a representative of rural España vacía ("empty Spain"), which feels neglected by politics and increasingly dependent on the development of metropolises and centers.
  • Foro de Ciudadanos ("Citizens' Forum", FAC for short, also Foro Asturias ) is a conservative party that is officially active throughout the country, but is only important in the Asturias region. It was created before the regional elections in 2011 in Asturias as a split from the PP. It hasbeen represented in the regional parliamentin Asturias, where it is known as Foro Asturias , since 2011 (best result in 2011 with 29.8%; worst result in 2019 with 6.5%) and was there in 2011/2012 with its founder Francisco Alvárez-Casco the Prime Minister. In the Spanish Chamber of Deputies, Foro Asturias is represented by a deputy elected via a joint list with the PP.

The following regional parties are currently represented in the respective regional parliaments:

  • Chunta Aragonesista (short CHA ) is a left regional party founded in 1986 in Aragon. It has been represented in the regional parliament since 1995 and achieved its best result in regional elections in 2003 with 14%. From 2000 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2015 it was also represented in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies with one member. At the European level, the CHA is a member of the European Free Alliance .
  • Partido Aragonés ("Aragonese Party", PAR for short) is a bourgeois-conservative regional party in Aragon. She has been represented in the regional parliament since the end of the Franco dictatorship, gaining between 5% (2019) and 28% (1987) of votes in the elections. From 1987 to 1993 the PAR provided the prime minister of the region and was otherwise involved in regional governments for a long time in coalitions with the PP or the PSOE. Until 2000 she was also represented in the whole of Spain's parliament, where she ran for the elections several times in electoral alliances with the PP or its predecessor Alianza Popular.
  • Més per Mallorca or Més per Menorca is an alliance of left regional parties (including PSM-Entesa Nacionalista ) in the Balearic Islands. In the 2019 regional election, this received 10.6% of the vote. In the Balearic Islands, Més is part of the government coalition with PSOE and Podemos .
  • El Pi - Proposta per les Illes is abourgeois regional party in the Balearic Islands that emerged in2012 from the union of the parties Convergència per les Illes Balears and Lliga Regionalista de les Illes Balears , and has been represented in the regional parliament since 2015.
  • Encontro Irmandiño ("Brotherhood Meeting") was a wing of the BNG, which split off from this in 2012 and is headed by Xosé Manuel Beiras (Chairman of the BNG 1982-2002). Encontro Irmandiño is the nucleus of the new Galician left-wing nationalist collection movement ANOVA-Irmandade Nacionalista . This formed in the Galician regional elections in 2012 under the name Alternativa Galega de Esquerda ("Galician Left Alternative", AGE for short) and with Beiras as the top candidate, an electoral alliance with the IU and the green party Equo. The AGE received 14% of the vote and nine MPs, making it the third strongest force even before the BNG. In February 2013, ANOVA-Irmandade Nacionalista was also entered as a party in the party register. In the 2016 regional elections, she formedthe En Marea alliancewith Podemos and IU, which received 19% of the vote.
  • Agrupación Socialista Gomera ( ASG ) is a spin-off from the PSOE on Gomera around the former PSOE Senator Casimiro Cubelo. She has been represented in the regional parliament of the Canaries since 2015.
  • Unión del Pueblo Leonés (“Union of the Leonesian People”, UPL for short) is a regional party founded in 1986 that advocates that the provinces of León , Salamanca and Zamora , which currently belong to the Autonomous Community of Castile-León , form their own autonomous community. The UPL has been represented in the regional parliament of Castile-León since 1995 with one (since 2011) to three (legislative period 1999–2003) members.
  • Por Ávila was founded in 2019 and is a spin-off from the PP, whose activities are limited to the province of Ávila . It is represented by one member in the regional parliament of Castile and León.
  • Nafarroa Bai ("Yes to Navarra", NaBai for short) and Geroa Bai ("Yes to the future", GBai for short) are electoral alliances of various Basque nationalist parties that have been participating in the Spanish elections and the regional parliament of Navarre came together to pool the Basque nationalist electorate in this region. Independent candidates were also on their lists. In the all-Spanish parliamentary elections in 2004 and 2008 and the regional elections in Navarra in 2007, the NaBai alliance consisted of Aralar , EA , PNV and the left-wing Batzarre party . In the regional election in May 2011 it consisted only of Aralar and PNV and was called NaBai2011 (the EA competed in this election in the Bildu alliance, Batzarre together with the IU). Since the Spanish parliamentary election in November 2011, the alliance has operated under the name Geroa Bai and consists only of the PNV and the local party Atarrabia Taldea ( Aralar had joined the Amaiur alliance), also in the regional elections in 2015 and 2019.Geroa Bai provided the non-party Uxue Barkos from 2015 to 2019 Prime Minister of Navarre.

Green parties

Except for the Catalan Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds (ICV, see above), which belongs to the European Green Party, Green parties in Spain have so far remained largely insignificant. This is also due to the fact that classic "green" topics are also occupied by the Izquierda Unida . Two of the regional associations of the IU (in Andalusia and in the Murcia region) even have " Los Verdes " in their name. On the other hand, there is also a significant fragmentation of the Green parties. These were mainly organized on a regional level, whereby it is not uncommon for several parties to exist in a region that claim the title "green" for themselves. Some of them were loosely united in the Confederación de Los Verdes , from which the Los Verdes-Grupo Verde party split in 1994 . The Confederación de Los Verdes was also (alongside the ICV) the Spanish member organization of the European Green Party.

In an effort to unite the "green" forces, the new Equo party was created in 2011, which most of the previous member parties of the Confederación de Los Verdes also joined. This was then excluded from the European Green Party in spring 2012 and Equo was accepted into the European umbrella party. For the Spanish parliamentary election in November 2011, Equo competed nationwide except in Catalonia (where the party supported the electoral alliance ICV-EUiA), in the Valencia region the electoral alliance Compromís-Q (see above), in the Balearic Islands an electoral alliance with u. a. the PSM-EN and in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife belonged to an electoral alliance with two small Canarian regional parties. The "pure" Equo lists received 0.72% of the votes. In the regional elections in Andalusia (March 2012) Equo received 0.53% of the vote and in the regional elections in the Basque Country (October 2012) 1.03% of the vote. In the regional elections held in Galicia in October 2012, Equo was a member of the alternative electoral alliance Galega de Esquerda (AGE, see above). In the regional elections in November 2012 in Catalonia, she supported the electoral alliance ICV-EUiA, but without being part of it.

Small and splinter parties

There are also a number of other parties. The register of parties ( Registro de Partidos Póliticos ) kept by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior contains a total of 5,266 parties and party associations (as of March 2020). While, according to the German political party law, such associations are political parties that aim to be represented in the Bundestag or a state parliament and "according to the overall picture of the actual circumstances offer sufficient guarantee for the seriousness of this objective", the Spanish political party law does not recognize such requirements. For example, a party can even restrict its sphere of activity to just one city or municipality from the outset (accordingly, many pure city parties are also entered in the party register).

For example, the new left-wing party Podemos , which emerged from the citizens 'movements of the protests in Spain 2011/2012 ( movimiento 15-M ), decided not to run as a party in the 2015 local elections (unlike the regional elections that were taking place at the same time) in order to establish an alliance with citizens' movements (partially under their locally established names) and activists. Because the formation of a party is easier than participating in the election as a group of voters (who have to collect support signatures for an election proposal), in many (even small) cities and municipalities limited small parties were founded on these, which then took part in the election. The number of these legally independent parties alone, which are actually often Podemos offshoots, is several hundred.

However, it is assumed that around 2,000 of the organizations entered in the party register are no longer active. Until 2015, deletion from the register was only possible due to the party dissolving itself or as a result of a party ban. The case that a party becomes a "card file" because it simply ceases its activity without formally dissolving, was not included. An amendment to the law in 2015 therefore made it possible to delete parties that have not held any board elections for more than eight years or have not submitted a statement of accounts for their financial accounts for three years.

The liberal party Centro Democrático Liberal ("Liberal Democratic Center", CDL), which at European level belongs to the European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party (ELDR), was founded in 2006 as the successor party to the Centro Democrático y Social , but could not achieve any significant electoral success.

In addition, the very confusing spectrum of Spanish parties is supplemented by other regional and splinter parties , including various nationalist parties such as Unió Valenciana ("Valencian Union", UV), Partido Socialista de Andalucía ("Socialist Party of Andalusia", PSA) or Partíu Asturianista (“Party for Asturian Self-Determination”, PAS). The Unió Mallorquina ("Mallorcan Union", UM), a small Balearic party that belonged to the ELDR at European level , disbanded in 2011 after corruption scandals and renamed itself to Convergència per les Illes Balears ("Convergence for the Balearic Islands").

In the Spanish parliamentary elections 2011, after Equo (see above), the anti-bullfighting and animal protection party Partido Animalista Contra el Maltrato Animal (PACMA) was the second strongest party among the parties that could not win a seat with 0.4% of the vote, followed by the protest party Escaños en Blanco (Eb).

In addition, there are some right-wing splinter parties such as Democracia Nacional (“National Democracy”, DN) or in Catalonia the right-wing populist Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC), which is represented in some city councils. On the left, there are parties like the Marxist-Leninist Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España (PCPE) or the Maoist Unficación Comunista de España (UCE). There are even still Carlist parties such as Partido Carlista ("Carlist Party", PC) or Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista ("Carlist Traditionalist Unity", CTC). However, none of these parties have any significant influence.

The Partido Pirata Español ( Pirate Party Spain), founded in 2007, only ran in the 2011 parliamentary elections in individual regions and achieved 0.3 to 0.4% of the votes there. In addition, independent pirate parties have been founded in some regions since 2010: the Pirates de Catalunya , which received 0.5% of the vote in the Catalan regional elections in 2012, the Piratas de Galicia and the Piratas de La Rioja .

Historically significant parties

In Spanish history there were a. the following parties are significant:

  • During the reign of Isabella II (1833–1868), the Partido Moderado and the Partido Progresista were the dominant parties. These were liberal parties which defended Isabella's claims to the throne against the Carlist pretenders . The moderados were more liberal-conservative, the progresistas more left-liberal. Later the Unión Liberal emerged as the third force . The political leaders of all three parties were largely generals ( Narváez , Espartero , O'Donnell ).
  • Isabella II was forced into exile in 1868 with a pronunciamiento supported by the progresistas , the Unión Liberal and the Partido Demócrata on the left of these two parties . In the following period under Amadeus I (1870–1873) and during the First Spanish Republic (1873/1874) the Partido Liberal developed from the progresistas (initially under the name Partido Constitucional and Partido Liberal Fusionista ) and from the moderados the conservative Partido Liberal Conservador . While liberals and conservatives were supporters of a constitutional monarchy and remained so after the abdication of King Amadeus I, supporters of the establishment of a republic were organized in the Partido Republicano Demócracta Federal at this time .
Rotational change of power between conservatives and liberals in the Alfonsine era - distribution of seats in parliament 1876–1923
  • Two other pronunciamientos led to the dissolution of parliament in 1874 and shortly afterwards with the enthronement of Alfonso XII. for the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. Under Alfonso XII. (1874–1885) and Alfons XIII. (1886–1941) the Partido Liberal and Partido Liberal Conservador , which supported the monarchy, remained the determining political forces. These parties, representing the upper classes, landowners, nobility and clergy, finally came to an agreement to take turns in government, which was practiced from the late 1870s onwards. The "matching" election results were ensured by the Kazikentum . At times and v. a. Towards the end of this Alfonsinian period these two camps also split off (in the liberal, inter alia , Izquierda Dinástica , Partido Liberal Demócrata and Izquierda Liberal ; in the conservative , inter alia, Unión Conservador , Partido Liberal Reformista , Mauristas and Ciervistas ), but this was not practiced in the mutual retention of power changed something. The republicans were represented in parliament, but outside the system of mutual retention of power, but for most of the time they were split up into several parties (including Partido Republicano Demócracta Federal , Partido Progesista Republicano Demócrata , Partido Democráta Posibilista , Partido Republicano Centrista , Partido Republicano Nacional , Unión Republicana , Partido Unión Republicana Autonomista , Partido Republicano Radical and Partido Reformista ). From 1891 the Carlist (especially the Comunión Tradicionalista ) were represented in parliament with a few MPs . The PSOE , founded in 1879, was only able to win its first mandate in 1910. From around 1900 the first regional parties were also represented in parliament (Basque Country: PNV; Catalonia: especially Lliga Regionalista and Partit Republicà Català ).
  • After even joint governments of conservatives and liberals were unable to cope with the increasing social unrest and the war in Morocco, which was unpopular in large parts of the population , dragged on and on, conservative generals led by Miguel Primo de Rivera launched a coup in 1923 . They established a military dictatorship and suspended the constitution. As a state party, Primo de Rivera founded the Unión Patriótica in 1924 .
  • After the military dictatorship had also failed, King Alfonso XIII. left the country and the Second Republic (1931–1936 / 39) was proclaimed. In 1936, a coup attempt by conservative generals that was only successful in parts of the country led to the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). During the war Spain was divided into a "national" and a republican zone. The main parties during the Second Republic and their main political figures were:
  • After Francisco Franco had asserted himself as the leader of the insurgent military shortly after the outbreak of the civil war and was proclaimed Jefe de Estado (Head of State), he united the fascist Falange Española de las JONS and the Carlist Comunión Tradicionalista with a decree of April 19, 1937 to the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS). All other parties were declared dissolved by the decree and the new party was placed under the leadership of Franco, who had previously not belonged to either the Falange or the CT. The FET y de las JONS remained the only party allowed during the Franco dictatorship . In the course of time, the name Movimiento Nacional was preferred, which developed into a bureaucratic apparatus that z. B. also performed welfare work.
  • Even after the end of the civil war, the government of the Second Republic continued in exile, as did some of the parties that supported it.
  • After the death of Franco in 1975, Spain began to transition to democracy ( transición ). From the end of 1976 the first parties were re-admitted, in particular the PSOE on February 17, 1977 and the PCE on April 9, 1977. Initially as an electoral alliance of various liberal and Christian democratic parties, the Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD) was established, which ran from 1977 to 1982 the government provided. In 1982 Adolfo Suárez (Prime Minister 1976-1981) left the UCD and founded the new party Centro Democrático y Social (CDS). The UCD dissolved in 1983, the CDS has not been represented in parliament since 1993.
  • The Unión Progreso y Democracia ("Union Progress and Democracy", UPyD ) is a new party founded in 2007 that tried to establish itself as the new party of the political center in view of the strong tensions between the PSOE and PP. The party takes liberal positions on social issues and rejects regional nationalisms. In the 2008 elections, the party won a parliamentary seat with 1.2% of the vote, in the 2011 elections it achieved 5% and until 2015 was represented by five members in the Spanish parliament. In the 2015 and 2016 elections, when Ciudadanos gained strength, it only achieved 0.6% and 0.2% of the vote, respectively. She did not run for the 2019 elections. It is also no longer represented in any regional parliament and is therefore currently politically practically insignificant.
  • Convergència i Unió ( CiU for short) was an alliance of the bourgeois Catalan parties CDC (Democratic Pact for Catalonia / Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya ) and UDC (Democratic Union for Catalonia / Unió Democràtica de Catalunya ) that existed from 1978 to 2015, initially as a coalición, later as a party association). CDC is more liberal, while UDC is more Christian Democratic. Although CiU only ran for elections in Catalonia, it has consistently achieved between three and five percent of all votes cast in Spanish parliamentary elections since 1979 and has been the third largest parliamentary group in the Spanish parliament since 2000, which means it was often an important “majority procurer”. She supported minority governments of both the PSOE and the PP in return for concessions from the central government in favor of the region of Catalonia on competence and financial issues. In line with this pragmatic policy, the CiU avoided making clear statements on the question of Catalonia's independence from Spain for decades. In 2012, however, she called fora referendum on the future of the region and a “separate state in Europe”in her manifesto for the Catalan regional elections. In Catalonia, CiU wasPrime Ministerwith Jordi Pujol until 2004and Artur Mas since 2010. The break occurred in 2015 because of differences over the future of Catalonia. The CDC advocates independence for the region from Spain, if necessary by means of a unilateral declaration of independence. In a membership decision in May 2015, the base of the UDC followed with a narrow majority the line of its board of directors to move on the way to more sovereignty of the region in any case within the framework of the Spanish constitution. B. excludes a unilateral declaration of independence.
  • Since the end of the Franco dictatorship, Herri Batasuna (“People's Unit”, HB for short) was the party of the radical Basque nationalist left ( izquierda abertzale ) for decades, gaining between 10% and 18% of the votes in the various elections to the Basque regional parliament scored. However, the HB was banned in 2003 after an amendment to the party law because it did not distance itself from the terrorist actions of the ETA and was regarded as its political arm. Since the ban, other parties and groups of the izquierda abertzale such as the Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas-Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista ("Communist Party of the Basque Countries", PCTV -EHAK) or the traditional Acción Nacionalista Vasca ("Basque Nationalist Action" , ANV -EAE) for elections, which were also banned in September 2008, which meant that izquierda abertzale was not represented in the Basque regional parliament for the first time after the 2009 elections due to a lack of approved candidacies. On January 10, 2011, the ETA announced a “permanent and general ceasefire”, and then on October 20, 2011, the “definitive end of its armed activities”. At the beginning of 2011, the new Sortu party was founded as a representative of izquierda abertzale , which expressly distanced itself from ETA's terrorism in its statutes. However, the Supreme Court ( Tribunal Supremo ) banned the registration of the newly founded party in the register of parties by judgment of March 23, 2011 (according to Spanish law, a party does not exist as a legal person until this registration). In response to a constitutional complaint, the Constitutional Court overturned this decision of the Tribunal Supremo on June 20, 2012 . On July 24, 2012 Sortu was entered in the register of parties. Sortu has been a member of the newly founded party association EH Bildu since 2014 .
  • Partido Andalucista (formerly Partido Socialista de Andalucía ) was a left regional party in Andalusia, which was represented in the regional parliament from 1982 to 2004. It resolved to dissolve it in September 2015 and has also no longer legally existed since 2019.

See also