Page 8 - aruba-today-20190423

A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 23 april 2019

Spain's rural regions become fierce battleground for votes

By ARITZ PARRA splash for a party that only
Associated Press last year made its first big
LA BIENVENIDA, Spain (AP) advance with a win in the
— Spanish politicians are regional election in Anda-
swapping campaign buses lusia, a Socialist stronghold.
for tractors, buddying up With nearly 400,000 voters
with hunters and inspecting in a country of 37 million,
home-grown tomatoes in the rural Ciudad Real prov-
Spain's often-neglected ru- ince is a mirror of national
ral regions as they hunt for politics. In the last general
votes in Sunday's general election in 2016, three of
election, one of the coun- the five deputies chosen
try's most polarized votes in here went to the Popular
decades. Party and two to the Social-
The ballot comes as Spain's ists. This year, polls are pre-
traditional bipartisan po- dicting at least two seats
litical landscape — which for the Socialists and one
used to revolve around the for the Popular Party, with
center-left Socialists and the remaining two up for
the conservative Popular grabs among four parties,
Party — has fractured into including the center-right
five main political parties, Citizens Party and the Vox
including a far-right popu- In this April 10, 2019 photo, farmers attend a meeting with Spanish far right party Vox at a bar in party.
list newcomer. That has Brazatortas, on the edge of the Alcudia valley, central Spain. Only the anti-austerity Uni-
spurred a race for votes in Associated Press das Podemos party seems
Spain's overrepresented to be left out in the prov-
hinterland, where nearly said. 20 years ago to seeing "for yer, fell out with the Popular ince, according to the lat-
one-third of the seats in Socialist Prime Minister Pe- sale" signs on house after Party and embraced the est polls. At the national
parliament's lower house dro Sánchez is the politi- house. A 37-year-old dairy nationalist populism of Vox, level, Podemos could lose
are up for grabs. cian most favored by the farmer is the breadwinner whose program echoes the up to 15 deputies from rural
Spain's electoral rules grant splintering of Spain's right in the only inhabited house, "take back control" man- areas in Sunday's vote.
a bigger say in parliament's wing into three parties. But and also Jurado's only rea- tra of populist movements Blanca Fernández, Ciudad
lower house to provinces his ability to stay in office son to stay. across the globe. The party Real's 41-year-old Socialist
with shrinking populations. hinges not just on how well "If my son loses his job, I'm vows to defend Spain from candidate, said politicians
A few thousand votes in the front-running Socialist done with it, I'll leave," said Muslims, communists and and the media are victim-
these areas can swing a party does in the national the retired truck driver. "The Catalan separatists, who izing the countryside.
win for one party or anoth- vote but also on how his di- days are hard and long held a defiant secession "It bothers me deeply when
er, turning the "every vote vided opposition performs. enough for somebody who referendum in 2017, un- people (politicians) climb
counts" cliché into a reality Sánchez or others will likely enjoys company." leashing a wave of Spanish onto tractors in a forced
for candidates far from the need the backing of other Her wish list for lawmakers nationalism. manner," she said. "It's an in-
big cities. parties to form a coalition has two items: Make sure "We are committed to ru- sult to those who live here."
That doesn't mean these government, making the pensions keep up with infla- ral Spain, which sees the What the Socialists want,
politicians are getting a race for rural votes even tion and create more jobs money flowing to richer ar- she said, "is for anybody
warm welcome. more critical. for the young. eas that are being disloyal in Spain to have access
Marcy Jurado, 64, lives in Spanish politicians across At a state-of-the-art game to the nation," Chamorro to services in comparable
central Spain's Alcudia val- the political spectrum are preserve down the road, said to applause from three quality conditions, no mat-
ley, surrounded by pastures seeking both photos of a provincial candidate dozen farmers who gath- ter where they live. And
dotted with holm oaks, with themselves in muddy boots from the far-right Vox party ered under stuffed boar that means more opportu-
her husband and son, the and headlines promising was telling people that his and deer trophies at a bar nities in rural areas."
only remaining residents in more investments for rural upstart party will unapolo- in Brazatortas, on the edge "There's no future for the
the village of La Bienveni- jobs, better internet access getically defend hunting of the Alcudia valley. farmland without women
da. She's wary of politicians and more local schools against "lefties, ecologists Barring any last-minute sur- or schools," she said.
knocking on farmers' doors. and health care centers. and animalists who tell ru- prises, Vox is poised to grab During two straight days of
"All I wish is that they don't Nestled at the top of a hill, ral dwellers how to live their 29 to 37 deputies in Spain's campaigning, Fernández
forget about us once the La Bienvenida has gone lives." 350-seat national parlia- and Chamorro listened to
elections are over," she from having 50 families only Ricardo Chamorro, a law- ment on Sunday, a big similar concerns. q