EVEN Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the leftist Podemos party, this week recognised that one of the political qualities of Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s conservative prime minister, is patience. Having endured seven years as opposition leader, Mr Rajoy won power in a landslide in 2011 only to have to pick up the pieces of his country’s housing bust. His fiscal curbs and financial and labour-market reforms speeded a vigorous economic recovery, but were unpopular. Together with corruption scandals in local government, that cost Mr Rajoy his majority in an election last December. His People’s Party (PP) remained the largest party, but in a newly fragmented parliament.
Since then, Spain and Mr Rajoy, reduced to an impotent caretaker, have waited for more than 300 days. No party has been able to assemble a parliamentary majority. A second election in June boosted the PP (from 123 seats in December to 137 seats out of 350) but failed to break the deadlock. Then after a wrenching internal struggle and faced with a third election at which they would probably lose more seats to the PP, the opposition Socialists at last agreed to abstain. That should allow Mr...Continue reading
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