Coalition Government, cursed figure in Spanish politics

USPA NEWS - Since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the Spanish policy has always pivoted on the axis of bipartisanship, with a majority of one party rule and strong opposition. Often, minority parties were necessary for stability of governments.

However, never in democratic Spain of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century there has been a coalition Government. Catalan and Basque nationalist have argued socialist and conservative governments, but had never been two different parties represented in the Government of the nation. Government coalitions appear to frighten the Spanish politicians, who only very rarely State have reached agreement on important issues and are more likely to promptly agree on certain policies.

That may change, not because Spanish politicians have been convinced of the benefits of joining forces to govern the country. The legislative elections of December 20 yielded results that reflect the fragmentation of the Spanish electorate. They won the conservatives, but without the majority needed to govern. They were behind the Socialists with 90 deputies, 30 less than the Conservatives; the extreme left with 69 seats, the center with 40 deputies, Catalan and Basque nationalists together with 23 MPs, communists with 2 seats, the Basque independence with 2 deputies and the Canarian nationalism with a seat.

Neither major party can govern alone and in coalition not leave the accounts. The option with more guarantees of government would be formed by the conservative Popular Party, the Socialists PSOE and Citizens centrist, but has been rejected by the socialists, yes frown leftist coalition led by the PSOE and supported by the extreme left and the Communists of United Left. Why the refusal of the Spanish different political parties coalition ideology?

The European experience

In Europe, coalition governments are common. Germany has a coalition Government since the end of the II World War, since neither the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have never achieved a sufficient majority to govern alone. CDU and Liberal Party, on the one hand; SPD and the Greens on the other or even CDU and SPD together, have been a constant in German politics for seventy years.

In Belgium, a country that hosts the main EU institutions, Government coalitions are a must. In France coalitions are common, but the best example of renouncing the interests of French political parties in the best interests of the State themselves gave it the Socialist Party in December to ask for a vote for the Conservative Party of former Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, in order to prevent the victory of the far-right National Front.

The Greeks have been forced by circumstances to join forces to lift the country out of crisis. The ultraconservative Independent Greeks ANEL and the leftist Syriza, of the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras govern in coalition since last September. Stability seeking the Greeks have made in Holland with the coalition Government between the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the PvdA of Labour court, which joined forces following the 2012 elections.

Italy is perhaps the country with a broader coalition Government. In the Italian Executive have portfolios Democratic Party of Prime Minister Matthew Renzi, the New Centre-Right, Center Conservative Union, independent and in lower echelons of Government organization, Democracy Solidarity, the Socialist Party and the Civic Choice. The Italians believe that coalition governments in the country have not been successful.

Socialists, Liberals and Greens governing together in Luxembourg. In Portugal, after bringing down the Conservative Government of Pedro Passos Coelho, the Socialist party governs in coalition with the Bloc, the Communist Party and Os Verdes. And in the UK, with a parliamentary system which defends the majority, the Conservative Party of the Premier David Cameron and the Liberal Social Party of Nick Clegg ruled in coalition between 2010 and 2015, although the recent elections the Conservatives punished for it.