News / EU

Spain’s Podemos party second in major opinion poll

Wednesday, 04 February 2015 5:23 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 February 2015 5:23 PM ]

Pablo Iglesias, leader of Spain’s Podemos party, greets the crowd of supporters in Madrid, January 31, 2015. (© AFP)

The results of a new opinion poll indicate that Spain’s anti-austerity party, Podemos, is getting more currency ahead of the 2015 elections.

According to the study by the CIS state research institute, the findings of which were published on Wednesday, Podemos has surpassed the mainstream opposition Socialist Party with 23.9 percent of the vote.

The survey showed that the governing conservative Popular Party is still the most popular with 27.3 percent support with the Socialists wining the third place.

The poll was conducted in early January, before the Greek left-wing party, Syriza, which is allied to Podemos, came to power in the cash-strapped country.

The important poll comes as Spain’s local and regional elections are scheduled to be held in May with a general election due in November.

Podemos stems from the Indignants protest movement, which became known across Spain in 2011 during its economic crisis. The left-wing party has vowed to fight corruption and what it describes as traditional “caste” of political leaders in Spain.

It managed to garner five seats in the European Parliament in May 2014, as over 1.2 million Spaniards voted for it.

Podemos’ main theme of action is to counter the controversial austerity measures imposed by the European Union. The party has also promised to prevent big companies from firing their workers, to establish a health system, which is fully controlled by the state, and uphold the minimum-wage hike.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, has warned people not to be deceived by Podemos’ “fake” pledges. This comes as many blame Rajoy for the surge in popularity of far-left parties, saying that under his rule, the unemployment rate has jumped, workers have increasingly been hired based on low-paid short-term contracts and salaries have significantly dropped.

MR/HSN/SS

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