They did not know it yet, but the 1936 elections would be the last before the outbreak of the Civil War, five months after the elections. The left-wing parties, united through the Popular Front, which included, among many other parties, the PSOE, the Communist Party, and ERC, obtained victory. But the government of the Second Republic never published those results in full, and until now they were not accessible. This is changing thanks to the project that three Catalan researchers published yesterday after six years of research. Now, anyone interested will be able to know how their town voted in those elections, which even today some historians question to justify General Franco's coup d'état.

Pedro Sánchez's path to the end of the legislature is getting complicated. In the last few hours, two of the key partners in the investiture majority, Junts and the PNB, have shown signs of distancing themselves from the Spanish government. While the Junts supporters joined the PP and Vox this Tuesday to overthrow the decree extending rents and the investment consortium agreed between the PSOE and ERC, the Basque nationalists suspended a meeting in Moncloa after a controversial message on social media from the PSE against Aitor Esteban. And all of this has served them to demand "respect" from Sánchez and issue him a warning in this morning's control session in Congress: "You will know how you want to reach the electoral call, whether you want company or not".

Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians have been called to the polls this Saturday in municipal elections to choose local councils in the first elections since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in 2023. The event has allowed, for the first time in twenty years, a vote to also be held in Gaza, in the city of Deir al-Balah, with 70,000 potential voters. In this municipality, one of the few that has not been devastated by the war, the elections have been eminently symbolic: the ballot boxes and the ballots had to be improvised.The day dawned gray in the West Bank. At seven in the morning, the polling stations opened amidst a strange routine: short queues, hushed conversations, and the shared feeling that today people were voting more out of responsibility than out of real hope for change.In a school in Al-Bireh, the capital of Ramallah, converted into an electoral center, voters have entered one by one. Throughout the day, the trickle has been constant. Participation slightly exceeded 53% in the West Bank, while in Gaza –where polling stations closed earlier to count votes by natural light, due to the lack of a stable electricity network– it stood at around 23%, according to the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission, the independent body responsible for administering the elections.“I don’t think this will change much. But if we stop voting, we will disappear even more”, says Bisan, a 29-year-old teacher from Ramallah. “My students find it hard to believe it's worth anything. And I can’t tell them the opposite with complete certainty”.The vote, which took place in more than 420 locations across the territory, has served to elect municipal councils responsible for basic services –water, electricity, roads, waste collection, and building permits–, but its political scope is limited: any relevant decision continues to be conditioned by Israel.The day has arrived, moreover, marked by a restricted political field and a generalized disaffection towards politics. In key cities like Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, or Nablus, there has been no vote because only one electoral list has been presented, which has been automatically declared the winner. In total, more than forty municipalities and more than a hundred towns have been resolved with the same logic, and in some areas, no candidates were even registered.“We don’t vote thinking about big politics. We vote thinking if we will have light, if they will fix the streets. It’s very little, but it’s what we have”, explains Rasha, a 38-year-old nurse. Her husband, Mohammed, adds: “People have lost faith in the parties, in the Palestinian Authority, in everything.”The majority of the candidacies have been linked to the Fatah movement, led by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, in power for more than two decades without being re-elected in general elections. In many municipalities, candidacies close to Fatah have competed with independent lists linked to other factions, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, of a Marxist-Leninist character.Omar, a 45-year-old shopkeeper accompanying his elderly mother, both wearing the Palestinian kufia, summarizes the sentiment of many voters: “It’s like choosing between one option and the same option, we don’t vote out of conviction, but out of habit. And because not doing so would be worse.”Voting in campaign tents

In Deir al-Balah, in the center of Gaza, the vote has had an eminently symbolic character, which the authorities themselves describe as a pilot project. This city is one of the few that has not been completely devastated by the war, although in December 2024 an Israeli bombing destroyed the municipal building and killed the mayor and ten workers.Unable to conduct a conventional electoral process or even send ballots or ballot boxes normally, the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission has improvised the system with recycled materials: wooden ballot boxes and blue ink left over from a vaccination campaign. Voting took place in tents and open spaces. All this amidst a fragile ceasefire and new Israeli bombings.Hamas, which won the 2006 parliamentary elections in the Strip, has not officially participated in these elections, although some candidacies have been perceived as close to the group, as reported by Reuters.Beyond the election of municipal councils, the ballots have been interpreted as an attempt by the Palestinian National Authority to strengthen its legitimacy in a context of growing distrust and the absence of national elections since 2006. In fact, some polls place distrust in the Palestinian Authority above 70%. Analysts point out that the Palestinian Authority has wanted to project an image of political, financial and administrative reforms, using these local elections as a symbol. In parallel, the simultaneous holding of elections in the West Bank, in a context of settlement expansion, Israeli settler violence and military control, seeks to reaffirm its institutional relevance. However, the Authority's room for maneuver remains limited: it exercises partial autonomy in the West Bank, while Israel maintains effective control over much of the territory and resources.

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Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians have been called to the polls this Saturday in municipal elections to choose local councils in the first elections since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in 2023. The event has allowed, for the first time in twenty years, for a vote to also be held in Gaza, in the city of Deir al-Balah, with 70,000 potential voters. In this municipality, one of the few that has not been devastated by the war, the elections have been eminently symbolic: the ballot boxes and ballots had to be improvised.The day dawned gray in the West Bank. At seven in the morning, the polling stations opened amidst a strange routine: short queues, quiet conversations, and the shared feeling that today was a vote driven more by responsibility than by any real hope for change.In a school in Al-Bireh, near Ramallah, voters entered one by one. Throughout the day, the trickle was constant. Turnout slightly exceeded 53% in the West Bank, while in Gaza – where polling stations closed earlier to count votes by natural light, due to the lack of a stable electricity grid – it stood at around 23%, according to the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission, the independent body responsible for administering the elections.“I don't think this will change much. But if we stop voting, we will disappear even more,” says Bisan, a 29-year-old teacher from Ramallah. “My students find it hard to believe it's worth anything. And I can't tell them otherwise with complete certainty.”The vote, which took place at more than 420 locations across the territory, was used to elect municipal councils responsible for basic services – water, electricity, roads, waste collection, and building permits – but its political scope is limited: any relevant decision continues to be conditioned by Israel.The day also arrived marked by a restricted political landscape and widespread disaffection with politics. In key cities like Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, or Nablus, there was no vote because only one electoral list was presented, which was automatically declared the winner. In total, more than forty municipalities and more than a hundred villages were resolved with the same logic, and in some areas not even candidates were registered.“We don't vote thinking about big politics. We vote thinking about whether we will have electricity, whether they will fix the streets. It's very little, but it's what we have,” explains Rasha, a 38-year-old nurse. Her husband, Mohammed, adds: “People have lost faith in the parties, in the Palestinian Authority, in everything.”Most of the candidacies were linked to the Fatah movement, led by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in power for more than two decades without being re-elected in general elections. In many municipalities, candidacies close to Fatah competed with independent lists linked to other factions, such as the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.Omar, a 45-year-old shopkeeper accompanying his elderly mother, both wearing the Palestinian kufia, summarizes the sentiment of many voters: “It's like choosing between one option and the same option; we don't vote out of conviction, but out of habit. And because not doing so would be worse.”Voting in tents

In Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, the vote has had an eminently symbolic character, which the authorities themselves describe as a pilot project. This city is one of the few that has not been completely devastated by the war, despite the fact that in December 2024 an Israeli bombing destroyed the municipal building and killed the mayor and ten workers.With no capacity to deploy a conventional electoral process or even send ballots or ballot boxes normally, the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission has improvised the system with recycled materials: wooden ballot boxes and blue ink left over from a vaccination campaign. Voting has taken place in tents and open spaces. All this amidst a fragile ceasefire and new Israeli bombings.Hamas, which won the 2006 parliamentary elections in the Strip, has not officially participated in these elections, although some candidacies have been perceived as close to the group, as reported by Reuters.Beyond the election of municipal councils, the elections have been interpreted as an attempt by the Palestinian National Authority to reinforce its legitimacy in a context of growing distrust and the absence of national elections since 2006. In fact, some polls place distrust in the Palestinian Authority above 70%. Analysts point out that the Palestinian Authority has wanted to project an image of political, financial, and administrative reforms, using these local elections as a symbol. In parallel, the simultaneous holding of elections in the West Bank, in a context of expanding settlements, violence by Israeli settlers, and military control, seeks to reaffirm its institutional relevance. Nevertheless, the Authority's room for maneuver continues to be limited: it exercises partial autonomy in the West Bank, while Israel maintains effective control over a large part of the territory and resources.

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A figurehead and ally of Putin and Trump in Europe, and a key figure of the anti-European and anti-immigration continental far-right, Viktor Orbán is much more than a nuisance to the European Union: he is the internal enemy who has called into question the EU's foundational values and short-circuited its system of unanimous governance. His eventual defeat at the polls this Sunday would therefore mean a respite and an injection of pro-European confidence, both to make Russia's support for Ukraine clear, to show the US president the limits of his influence on the Old Continent, and, thirdly, to deflate the far-right's rise.

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During the peak years of the Process, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) was able to bring millions of people to the streets and became a decisive player in setting the roadmap for the pro-independence governments. The paralysis of the Process, however, has affected it like the rest of the pro-independence entities and formations that worked to make the 1-O referendum possible. This is demonstrated by the number of candidacies submitted to the ANC leadership. For the first time,the number of candidates for the national secretariat is lower than the number of available positions. Thus, 64 aspirants have been presented to occupy the 77 positions that will form the entity's leadership, as established by the statutes. This is the lowest figure in its history.

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The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is poised to win the regional parliamentary elections in the southwestern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, according to projections based on the vote count. Pending final results, conservative candidate Gordon Schneider is projected to win with 31% of the vote, defeating incumbent Social Democrat Alexander Schweitzer, who is expected to garner 25.9%. The CDU, the party of conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, would wrest control of the state government from the Social Democrats (SPD), dealing a significant blow to the party after 35 years in power. The Social Democrats lose their red stronghold: they had governed since 1991.

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Many older Barcelona fans still wonder what Barça would have been like if Josep Lluís Núñez hadn't won the first democratic elections in 1978. Three years after Franco's death, Barça was finally able to hold its first relatively free elections. "Relatively" because they were still conducted under the previous statutes, which prohibited women from voting. That year, Núñez narrowly defeated Ferran Ariño in an election marked by the decision of the favorite, Víctor Sagi, to withdraw from the race.

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The Moncloa Palace maintains that Spanish elections will be held in 2027 and that Spanish President Pedro Sánchez intends to serve out his full term. However, both the solemn declaration following Donald Trump's trade war threat and the gridlock in Catalonia due to the lack of a budget following the Treasury's refusal to delegate income tax collection have fueled speculation about a possible snap election in Spain. Beyond establishing himself as an international figurehead for the left and leading the opposition to Trumpism within the European Union, Sánchez's speech this Wednesday could be interpreted internally. He was directly addressing Spaniards with a choice: either me or Trump and everything he represents. Sánchez's speech has energized the Socialist ranks, as it provides a framework for competition with the right. The strategists at Moncloa have once again caught Alberto Núñez Feijóo off guard: Spain has received the support of the main European powers in the face of Trump's trade threats, and Sánchez has revived the "No to war" slogan. which did so much damage to José María Aznar's PP. At a time when there are no other established candidates on the left: with Yolanda Díaz's withdrawal, Sumar still lacks a visible leader, and Gabriel Rufián also lacks a platform to articulate his proposal.

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A narrow victory for the People's Party (PP) over the Socialist Party (PSOE) in the Franja region. The PP garnered 13% more votes than the Socialists overall in the region—6,280 votes to the Socialists' 5,526—but the result paints a different picture of the balance of power than in the rest of the autonomous community. The 13% difference in favor of the PP stands in stark contrast to the situation in Aragon as a whole, where the gap between the two parties widens to 40% in favor of the PP. This suggests that the Franja remains a more contested territory and one where the implementation of Socialism is more resilient at the local level.

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With less than a month to go before the elections in Castile and León – they are on March 15 – the People's Party (PP) is seeing the scenario from Extremadura repeat itself in Aragon. Like María Guardiola, Jorge Azcón (PP) won the regional elections, but not with a sufficient majority, and he is more dependent on Vox than before the election was called. The far-right party doubled its results in Sunday's Aragonese elections and is now demanding its share of the pie: this Monday, the national spokesperson for the far-right, José Antonio Fúster, expressed interest in joining the regional government and outlined his priorities: he has conditioned his support on combating green policies and immigration. Thus, he has demanded ministries with real powers and a budget to be able to influence day-to-day management, even though the snap election was precisely due to a disagreement between the PP and Vox over agreeing on a new regional budget. "We want very clear responsibilities with very clear budgets to implement the policies we want to implement," explained Fúster, who urged the PP to sit down and negotiate tomorrow. "When you don't have an absolute majority, you have to reach an agreement," the president of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, had anticipated just before entering the PP's national executive committee meeting this Monday, which met in Madrid to analyze the results of the Aragonese elections. This message was later echoed by the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who did not hesitate to explicitly address Santiago Abascal's party: "Responsibility," Feijóo demanded of Vox. The Popular Party acknowledges its dependence on Vox, and while they warn that they will establish their own profile—"we are not the same," Feijóo asserted—they are aware that they will have to find common ground. "We must reach an understanding," reiterated the leader of the People's Party (PP), who demanded that Santiago Abascal's party not generate "frustration" among the people. "Vox cannot become a wall," he said, adding that citizens must also "punish" those who "prevent us from governing," alluding to the far right. In fact, the PP fears that the situation in Aragon will mirror that of Extremadura, where Guardiola won the elections and has yet to reach any agreement with the far right. Tomorrow, the president of the Extremadura Assembly, Manuel Naharro, will propose Guardiola as a candidate for president, knowing, however, that she does not yet have guaranteed support.

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Although the outcome of the Aragonese elections cannot be considered a surprise, the constant growth of the far right in every election of this new political cycle should be a cause for concern, both for the political class and for the rest of society. In the case of Aragon, the pattern already seen in Extremadura has been repeated: early elections called by the PP with the intention of strengthening themselves have ended up strengthening Vox. Jorge Azcón is now objectively in a worse position than before calling the elections, as he will have to negotiate with a strengthened far right that will demand a higher price than in 2023 in exchange for his investiture. The move to bring forward the elections has backfired, because not only have the citizens not supported him as he requested to overcome Vox's deadlock, but they have punished him with two fewer seats. And now he will have to face extremely tough negotiations in which, as has already been seen in Extremadura, Abascal's party will put him under maximum pressure. In Aragon, moreover, Azcón finds himself in a paradoxical situation: opening the doors to an anti-immigration party precisely in a sparsely populated region with low unemployment that needs, precisely, immigration. Where will the workers supposedly needed to build all the data centers announced in recent years come from if not from immigration? Who is saving the primary sector, which Vox claims to defend, if not the newcomers, who are willing to do the hard farm work that locals reject? Aragon will now have to live with this contradiction and with the instability inherent in any pact with the far right, as was demonstrated when it decided to withdraw from regional governments. Therefore, if Azcón aspires to have a centrist and moderate government, one that seeks broad consensus, he should renounce any pact with Vox and be open to other types of alliances. In fact, the PSOE would do well to offer Azcón an abstention to avoid a pact or a repeat election.

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Excluding Catalonia from the equation, the last Socialist electoral victory dates back to May 28, 2023. At that time, despite losing popular support, the PSOE came in first in the regional elections in Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias, the Canary Islands, and Extremadura, although it failed to form a government in the latter two. Adding the two recent victories in Catalonia, in 2024 and 2021, the balance for the last six years is 6 electoral victories and 21 defeats, counting general, regional, and European elections. How is it possible that, despite this disastrous electoral cycle, Sánchez remains in La Moncloa and is about to surpass José María Aznar as the second longest-serving president in the history of Spanish democracy?

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"We'll have good news about that soon," says José Miguel Sánchez, the general manager of the Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce, smiling when asked about the possibility of Aragon surpassing Catalonia in per capita income and moving from being the fifth richest autonomous community in Spain to the fourth. Sánchez is the leading figure of the economic euphoria reigning in Aragon thanks to the influx of millions in investments announced by major American technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as Blackstone, to build data centers. So far, some thirty have already been announced. The figures are staggering, but depending on the specific investment, we're talking about sums of money that exceed Aragon's current GDP, which stands at 49 billion euros. "This is Aragon's moment," declares Sánchez from his office in the Chamber's historic headquarters, located next to the construction site of the Nueva Romareda stadium, one of the football stadiums vying to host matches of the 2030 World Cup.

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Aragon goes to the polls this Sunday for the first time in early elections, not coinciding with other elections, but there is very little doubt about the outcome. The conservative majority (PP+Vox+PAR), which currently holds 36 of the 67 seats, is expected to rise above 40, in line with the conservative wave sweeping Spain, but which, as was already evident in Extremadura, primarily benefits the far right. There is also no doubt that the PP will be the leading party and that, therefore, Jorge Azcón is the most likely candidate to be re-elected president. However, in the final days of the campaign, Azcón has appeared tense and agitated, particularly raising his voice against Vox. Why? Because, like María Guardiola before him, he called early elections to overcome Vox's obstruction of the budget, and now everything suggests that he will be even more hamstrung by Santiago Abascal's party. In short, a move designed to strengthen the PP may end up strengthening Vox and complicating life for the Aragonese president.

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More than 15 million Chileans are called to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president to succeed the current one. progressive Gabriel Boric The first round of voting will take place on March 11. According to the latest polls, no candidate will secure enough support—more than 50% of the vote—to become president, necessitating a runoff election scheduled for December 14. However, Sunday's results will be crucial in understanding Chile's future, as they will confirm the composition of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and resolve the biggest question so far: which of the three right-wing candidates will advance to the second round?

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Polls published at the start of this political year confirm that Vox is on the rise to the detriment of the PP. If a year ago, Santiago Abascal's party had a voting intention of 13.1%, according to the barometer of the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), in September they stood at 17.3%. In one year, Santiago Abascal's party has closed the gap with the Popular Party by nine points, which is in decline, according to other polls such as the one conducted by 40dB for The Country and Cadena SER. Faced with this shift in voters, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party has opted to toughen its rhetoric on issues such as immigration in an attempt to halt a trend that complicates its electoral prospects. Between now and the next general elections, could Vox make the overtaking in the PP?

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What life is like, especially what political life is like. The separatists have been saying for years that judges play politics. (They had a reason: "They are afraid!" and "Whatever you can do, let it do.".) Then Pablo Iglesias said it, in his own words. But last night, the president of the Spanish government said it live on Spanish public television. Pedro Sánchez was asked about the legal cases against his wife and brother. And he answered this:

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As we're about to begin a new political year, a certain end-of-term air is taking over the atmosphere. It's often said that August is a special month, with less activity and less significant events. But for a few years now, we've had many important developments in the midst of the heatwave. The clocks no longer stop, especially for public officials, not because vacations are overrated, as Feijóo said, but because certain responsibilities, particularly those of the Prime Minister, are extremely personal and non-delegable. Pedro Sánchez knows this perfectly well. He has demonstrated it on many occasions. It was made clear, for example, when he called the 2023 elections, with the vote in July and the constitutional ceremony of the Corts a few weeks later. His gamble paid off that time, but it will be very difficult to repeat, whether the next election is held sooner or if he waits until 2027, when the current term ends.

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If Feijóo were elected president in 2027, he would be by far the oldest person to have taken office, at 66. And it seems to be an issue that has long haunted him. Some say that his recent image makeover, with the corresponding visual corrections to eliminate glasses, was aimed in that direction: to rejuvenate the character. The result hasn't been obvious: blurred eyes that shape a face without precise attributes. But beyond the aesthetics and cosmetics of a leader who moves in fits and starts—as soon as he disappears, the decibels rise—there is politics. And haste often takes surprising turns. Time management is key in this profession, and he seems to be looking sideways, as if looking for someone watching him. Fraga syndrome?

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