Monday, June 01, 2009

European Elections 2009....Still Unsure How To Vote?

The opinion polls published over the weekend in Spain show the Partido Popular with an advantage over the PSOE with only one week of the campaign left. Whether this advantage is big enough to give the PP a clear victory is open to doubt, especially now that El Mundo has decided that anything less than a five seat advantage for Mariano Rajoy will be considered a failure. The estimates on participation suggest that it will not be much over 45%. Europe doesn't get mentioned very much, and the main campaign issue between the two major parties is whether flying to your campaign meetings in a military jet is better than using the same service to go on holiday or to your daughter's wedding.

For those who are intending to vote but still unsure who to support, South of Watford comes to the rescue by recommending the EU Profiler. Unfortunately, in my case I didn't end up very close to any of the parties, but maybe you'll have better luck.

13 comments:

Sierra said...

Had two election leaflets:

PP in Spanish - not even Gallego - and would you buy a used car from a bearded one?

PSOE in English - 10 out of 10 for initiative; however, isn't "The citizens of America saw this clearly and voted for change..." tempting fate a bit?

Evaristo said...

Thanks for the link. I like these profilers. They normally show me what I already know: that I am perfectly aligned with The Party ;)

Tom said...

Yeah, I didn't come away with a clear option either, though my closest possibilities are IU and ERC. Then again, Iniciativa Internationalista wasn't included. I've seen loads of posters for them in Cerdanyola recently...

Tom said...

Oh, and the PP always send their literature in a blank envelope here, causing even more anger when one opens it than one would have had seeing their stupid logo.

Graeme said...

"the PP always send their literature in a blank envelope here"

Electoral pornography.

@ Evaristo - yes, you got a good match. Even your overlap with the PP is probably only on the issues where they are lying.

Troy said...

Nice link Graeme, no surprises and the questions do really lead you, but it is surprising the amount that one can overlap with the other side...but as you've already said, to what extent are they telling the truth!

Lenox said...

Have you seen - the CDL (Centro Democrático Liberal) is headed up a... (drumroll) an expat?
Sean O'Curneen is half Irish and half Spanish. Married to an Englishwoman and is from Madrid. Being a European resident in Spain, he has to carry his Irish passport and A4 identity at all times.
Perhaps the idea of !!One Of Us!! running for the European Parliament is worth a thought?
www.seanocurneen.com

Graeme said...

Lenox, I can't see it being very productive that we all start voting for people based on their nationality.

Lenox said...

Hi Graeme - I don't suppose nationals are going to worry much about 'displaced Europeans' and the crap we have to put up with in Europe. The chance of these issues being raised in Brussels sure appeals to me a lot more than which standard Spanish party gets to try and keep the land-grab and 'illegal homes' business flourishing.
As far as the CDL goes - well, it's the Liberal centre and represents the third biggest force in Europe. Not so obscure!

StarHound said...

It asked me who I was likely to vote for and who I was unlikely to vote for...before telling me who I was likely to vote for.

Nice graphs at the end, though.

Graeme said...

@ Starhound,

I've done the test - I answered all the questions as I thought any good Spanish PP supporter would, and then I said I was only going to vote for left wing or nationalist parties. I ended up waaaay over on the right not close to any party at all.

StarHound said...

Graeme

It was spot on for Ireland - North and South, but when I clicked for Spain I nearly choked on the Fair Trade coffee from my Kafe Antzokia mug as it had Ciutadans (whatever's left of them)and bizarrely, Coalición Canaria near the centre....

I think my often contradictory views on the EU might have thrown it a bit.

Tom said...

@Lenox - I'm not convinced that your 'displaced Europeans' issue is really that important. Obviously people shouldn't have their homes taken away (something that has affected a very small minority of British citizens in Spain), but that also affects Spaniards.

My opinion is that if you want all the advantages offered to a Spanish citizen, DNI, voting rights, etc; then that's exactly what you should become.

Looking at ELR's manifesto (and struggling to stay awake), I noticed lots of stuff about establishing a single free market and not very much about protecting the people working within that market. They're pro Nato too.