Hola, Madrid!: Buenas Noches y Buena Suerte

Sunday, March 9th, was election day here in Spain. The Partido Socialista (PSOE) won for the second time in a row. The Spanish election process has been very interesting for me. It’s quite different from the way we do our elections. Here are some things I’ve learned about Spain:

• Spanish people vote by party not by the candidate. In the US, we vote for every open position in the government and we have the choice of mixing up the parties. Here, you only choose the party. Before the elections, people receive a long sheet of paper from various parties that list the names of the candidates for the party (see pictures below for samples I got from my student) . On election day, they bring the sheet, enclosed in the provided envelope, from their preferred party to a voting location. They register with an election official and drop their envelopes in the ballot boxes. When the ballots close at 8 PM, election officials count how many votes each party gets. The percentage of votes each party gets determines how many positions they get in the government.

• Number 1 on the list is the president of the party, and he chooses #2 to #35. Whatever number you have on the list will determine your position in the government if your party wins. For example, #1 (the President of the Party) will become the president of Spain, #2 will become the Minister of Economy (the second top position in the Government), and so on...I’m not really sure what the other positions are. It is also mandatory that there are at least two woman in the top 5 of the list (I love this rule!).

• There are two main parties in Spain: Partido Popular (PP) and PSOE. I think both are pretty center and cannot really be compared to American political parties. But if one has to, PP would be comparable to the American’s Republicans and PSOE to the Democrats. There are other parties, of course. Each of them get enough votes during the election that they are able to gain a few seats in the government. Most of these parties are from the left. Thus, it is sometimes easier for PP to win because PSOE has to share their votes with other left parties.

• Unlike the US where we get bombarded with campaign crap immediately after one election, the Spanish parties cannot technically start campaigning until 15 days before elections. On the first day of the 15 day campaign, posters go up and TV ads play. So yes, the parties start to campaign before the 15 days but they cannot advertise until the 15 day period. I love it! It’s not as annoying and people don’t get so sick of it. I think it is very easy for Americans to get voters apathy because the candidates never stop bothering us with their continuous bullshit. By the time we actually vote, people are just so sick of it.

• The Spanish never have presidential debates. The first and last time they had one was in 1993. This year, after 15 years, they decided to bring it back…and they had two. I tried to watch both debates but it was just impossible to understand. I can barely understand regular conversation Spanish, let alone formal Spanish. Since I couldn’t understand, I judged the two men by their faces, voice, facial expressions, and body language. As an outsider, I thought Jose Luis Zapatero, PSOE’s president, was more confident. It also doesn’t help that he is younger and has one of the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen (if only he didn’t have those crazy sharp arching eyebrows). On the other hand, Mariano Rajoy, PP’s president, is several years older, talks very fast (like he’s nervous), and says his “s” sounds with a “sh". Of course, to the Spanish, their opinions on the debate winner depended on which party they prefer.

By 10 PM on Sunday (the results are fast!), it was clear PSOE had won…they got about 10 more seats than PP. I guess I’ve become a Zapatero-ist just because of my roommates. And apparently, in the last election he promised to take the Spanish military out of Iraq and he actually kept his promise and got them out of there. Other than that, I know nothing else so I just keep my mouth shut when people talk about Spanish politics. Anyway, my roommates and I celebrated with champagne. I obviously have no real opinion about the results since I don’t know either of the parties that well, but hey, if someone gives you champagne, you take it.

And in case you are wondering about the title of this post, that is the line Zapatero uses when he ends his speeches. I’m not really sure if he stole it from Edward Murrow (aka the guy George Clooney made a movie on) or he just likes saying it. But it has become a joke around the house. We are constantly saying it to each other, and Xalba and I always make Iñaki do his impression of Zapatero and Rajoy.

Pues, buenas noches y buena suerte a todos!