Spanish youth not represented by politicians: study

Six in 10 young Spaniards do not feel represented in their country’s political system, but 86% of those eligible to vote will go to the polls on Sunday in the general elections, a study published by the Youth Council reveals.

Over 6,200 young Spaniards aged between 14 and 30 were surveyed on their relationship with the political system. Spain has the second highest youth unemployment rate in the EU (29.3%) after Greece (29.7%) and Italy (22.4%), Eurostat data reads.

Yet housing should be the main priority for the next government, according to 74% of those surveyed for the Youth Council. Owning a home is a key to emancipation, they said.

In addition to housing, 67% want the future prime minister to improve working conditions, 46% want measures to improve mental health, 31% would like to see more efforts against climate change, 23% aspire to have more participation in public affairs, and 23% want the next government to promote more equality policies, the survey shows.

However, 55% said they were “very interested” in politics, while 34% were “somewhat interested”, only 41% of those surveyed said they feel represented by the current Spanish political system. Young people’s votes are one of the most coveted, and according to experts, this age group is part of the 30% of undecided voters whom political leaders want to attract before Sunday.

About political information consumption habits, 43% say they have seen content or opinions on TikTok in the “last week”, a figure that rises to 63% when it comes to 14 to 20-year-olds.

Despite most polls pointing to a victory of the centre-right party currently in opposition, Partido Popular (PP/EPP) and forming an alliance with the far-right VOX (ECR) party to form a governing majority, Spain’s acting Prime Minister and socialist candidate, Pedro Sánchez, expressed optimism Monday about starting a government with the progressive platform Sumar.

“We will win the elections, we will join forces with Yolanda Díaz’s party (Sumar), and I am convinced that I will not be able to count on the abstention of the Popular Party (if the PSOE wins)”, Sánchez said in an interview with Spanish public radio station Radio Nacional de España (RNE).

The leader of PSOE once again criticised some polls for not providing all the technical data to support their results and stressed that, in his opinion, there is a clear purpose in what some of these polls published by conservative media claim.

Sánchez: a politician with endurance

Sánchez recalled that despite the negative forecasts for the PSOE in previous elections, such as in 2019, the socialist party, under his leadership, managed to win the Spanish government when nobody thought it would happen.

In Sánchez’s words, this will also be repeated on 23 July because “nothing is written” and “the die is not cast for anything”.

Many political analysts consider him a true “survivor”, as he has had to fight several internal battles to become the leader of the PSOE, even against the wishes of many of his party colleagues who opposed him fiercely.

In 2019 Sánchez published the book Manual de Resistencia (Endurance’s Guide), in which he tells how he managed to survive the harsh internal attacks of his party and achieved the leadership of the PSOE against all odds.

In the RNE interview, Sánchez reiterated that he would once again count on nationalist parties such as the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) or the Basque nationalist EH Bildu to approve measures to favour citizens, despite harsh criticism from PP, VOX and his party comrades, who still blame him for that bold political move.

PSOE is predicted to win, according to one poll

But even if the die is not yet cast, only one poll predicts a PSOE victory, the study published Monday by state-owned Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), EFE reported.

It forecasts the victory of Sánchez’s party by 1.4 points over the PP in next Sunday’s elections.

The poll points to a simultaneous growth of 1.2 points in the estimated vote of the two main parties, which would make PSOE the winner with 32.2% of the vote, while PP would have 30.8%.

Sumar comes third, with 14.9% and VOX fourth, with 11.8% of the vote.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)