SPAIN-ELECTIONS/MADRID CELEBRATION Podemos supporters take to Madrid's streets to celebrate local election results

Record ID: 135314

  • Title: SPAIN-ELECTIONS/MADRID CELEBRATION Podemos supporters take to Madrid's streets to celebrate local election results
  • Date: 25th May 2015
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (MAY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF SPAIN'S ANTI-AUSTERITY PARTY PODEMOS (WE CAN) CELEBRATING, CHANTING (Spanish): "YES, WE CAN, YES WE CAN" PODEMOS SUPPORTERS CHANTING (Spanish): "YES, SHE IS, MANUELA IS THE MAYOR" HONKING CARS GROUP OF WOMEN OPENING BOTTLE OF SPANISH CAVA (SPARKLING WINE), DRINKING (SOU
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4A3IXJ6KPX46TSU65FPVLPPHG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of supporters of Spain's anti-austerity parties took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday (May 24) night as Spain's ruling People's Party (PP) took a battering in regional and local elections after voters punished Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for four years of severe spending cuts and a string of corruption scandals.
    In a test of the national mood ahead of general elections expected in November, the PP suffered its worst result in more than 20 years to herald an uncertain era of coalition as new parties rose to fragment the vote.
    Spaniards rejected the stability offered by the PP and rival Socialists, which have alternated in power since the end of dictatorship 40 years ago, and opted for change in the shape of new parties - market-friendly Ciudadanos ('Citizens') and anti-austerity Podemos ('We Can').
    "This is the change. This is the possibility to finally be able to finish twenty-four years of repressive and dictatorial People's Party government. People are hopeful that change is possible and it is possible to have a different city for everybody," said Vanessa, a student from Madrid, as she celebrated with a bottle of Cava.
    In Madrid city, where there has been a PP mayor since 1991, Rajoy's party marginally beat a leftist platform backed by Podemos and headed by 71-year-old retired judge Manuela Carmena. But there as well the Podemos-backed alliance is likely to team up with the Socialists to win power.
    "We have been able to end the hegemony of the People's Party which seemed to be indestructible. We have been able to kick out of power this woman who represents the worst of the country's corruption. I sure hope it is the end of her political career," said Podemos supporter Jose Manuel Bueso.
    The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, joined the celebration and introduced Carmena as the new mayor of Madrid.
    "They were saying one year ago that we couldn't defy bipartisanship and dignity could not be within the institutions and that we weren't going to be able to defeat Esperanza Aguirre and the government of corruption. Many thanks Manuela, many thanks Madrid for showing that we can," Iglesias told a cheering crowd of supporters.
    Rajoy's future looked bleak as his strategy to bet on an accelerating economic rebound to win a second term later this year was seriously undermined by his party's poor showing.
    Although the PP got more votes than any other party, along with the rival Socialists, it fell short of overall majorities in most areas. The two parties will have to negotiate coalitions with minority parties in the 13 of Spain's 17 regions that voted on Sunday alongside more than 8,000 towns and cities.
    The PP got its worst result in countrywide municipal elections since 1991 and lost its absolute majority in regional bastions Madrid and Valencia, where potential left-wing coalitions could send the party into opposition for the first time in 20 years.
    "I am in a position to say that it is clear at this very moment that the majority supporting the change has won. It is a majority who wants change. And that majority for change has not been won by Ahora Madrid or any other political forces who also expressed their desire for change. That majority has been won by you, Madrid citizens," Carmena said.
    Podemos, often compared to Greek radical left party Syriza, had toned down its policies in recent weeks, scrapping more extreme ideas like defaulting on the national debt.
    In Barcelona, another left-wing coalition headed by former community activist Ada Colau and backed by Podemos beat pro-independence parties Convergencia i Unio (CiU) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), in a setback for the Catalan separatist movement.
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