What about the election?

ALL of the parties are so relatively laid-back it’s almost as if there isn’t an election due in around three weeks.

There are no vans driving around at the moment broadcasting political slogans and encouraging the Spanish electorate to get out and vote. It looks as if Podemos Unidos, which sees the alliance between left wing Podemos and the even more left-wing United Left, could actually push the traditional socialist party PSOE into third place, although there are already rumblings of discontent from some senior Podemos members about what they see as a potential communist infiltration.

If the election was a pantomime, then Mariano Rajoy would be cast as the traditional villain in many minds, but despite the fact that the Partido Popular (PP) appears to have more ‘skeletons in its cupboard’ than Bluebeard, it is still predicted to win the most votes in the election.

There have been rumours that Mr Rajoy would be replaced as leader of the party but he seems to be holding on, limpet like, to his position and just maybe members of the PP don’t really care if they don’t obtain a complete majority as the other parties are so randomly opposed that the PP can still continue as an interim government for a long time to come.

At least they can continue to use the interim government excuse to the EU when they get chastised for missing financial targets each year. The Interim Prime Minister also entered into the Brexit debate, suggesting that things could get tough for expatriate British living in Spain should Britain vote to leave the Union, and of course big bad Margallo continues to threaten Gibraltar with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the event of a Brexit, which at least will persuade any hesitant Gibraltarian which way to vote.

Whilst both sides of the Brexit argument will rush to attack or defend Rajoy’s statement, it does in all honesty appear to be a bit of very transparent scaremongering to frighten the insecure, but even I as someone who wants to remain in the EU can’t take those comments seriously and most people will dismiss them out of hand.

What about Ciudadanos? Unless they decide to side with the PP, it rather looks as if they will be a spent force, falling to fourth place and unable to form a government with PSOE.

Blink and you might miss the election, but June is politically and socially a very important month for expatriates in Spain.