LGBT Pride Day in Madrid
Mon, July 17, 2023
By Enrique Anarte
MADRID (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have taken centre stage ahead of Spain's July 23 national election.
Opinion polls predict Alberto Nunez Feijoo's conservative People's Party (PP) will win the election after four years of coalition government by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists and the leftist Unidas Podemos.
But Feijoo would likely need the support of the far-right Vox party to form a government. Vox has strongly opposed LGBTQ+ rights.
Here is what you need to know.
Why are LGBTQ+ advocates worried?
Local elections in May paved the way for PP-Vox coalitions in several Spanish municipalities.
Vox made headlines in May by hanging a sign from a Madrid building showing a hand dropping cards with symbols representing feminism, communism, the LGBTQ+ community and Catalan independence into a rubbish bin.
A new Vox-led authority in the small eastern town of Naquera last month said it would no longer display the rainbow-coloured flag on public buildings.
In Valdemorillo, a small town near Madrid, the new PP-Vox council cancelled a performance of a theatre adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel "Orlando", in which the protagonist changes gender.
What do right-wing parties advocate?
Both Vox and the PP have promised to take action against some pro-LGBTQ+ measures passed by the left-wing government.
They have both pledged to change a self-determination law that came into force in March, allowing trans people over 16 to change their legal gender simply by informing the official registry, rather than undergoing two years of hormone treatment.
The law also allows children over 14 to change their legal gender with parental approval.
The PP and Vox, as well as some women's rights groups, argue the legislation puts women in single-sex spaces at risk and have accused the left of forcing children to medically transition.
"Changing your sex is easier than getting a driver's license," Feijoo said. Vox party leader Santiago Abascal said "the 'trans law' discriminates against women."
But the parties have not clarified which parts of the law they would revoke. The legislation also banned so-called "conversion therapy", which aims to change someone's sexual orientation and gender identity, and unnecessary surgery on intersex babies, who are born neither male nor female.
Both the PP and Vox declined to answer requests for comment.
Vox has also proposed allowing parents to take their children out of sex education classes and lessons covering sexual and gender diversity.
What do LGBTQ+ activists say?
Spain is fourth in the ranking of European countries' LGBTQ+ rights by advocacy group ILGA-Europe, but LGBTQ+ activists said a PP-Vox government would roll back their rights.
Several international surveys rank Spain amongst the most LGBTQ-friendly societies in the world, although hate crimes against the community rose by 68% between 2019 and 2021, Interior Ministry data showed.
A right-wing government could also target LGBTQ+ rights by failing to implement existing laws, said Uge Sangil, head of LGBTQ+ umbrella group, FELGTB.
"We could go back 40 years," Sangil said.
For some, a PP-Vox coalition could also delay long-awaited measures such as including a non-binary option on identity documents.
"It would not only mean bring a setback in rights - we would also have practically no chances of moving forward," said Darko Decimavilla, a non-binary activist.
(Writing by Enrique Anarte; Editing by Jon Hemming. Please credit Openly, the LGBTQ+ news website from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://www.openlynews.com)
Spain's right on verge of majority in general election, polls find
A man walks past electoral posters in Ronda
Updated Mon, July 17, 2023
By Inti Landauro and Andrei Khalip
MADRID (Reuters) -The final opinion polls allowed under Spanish law before the July 23 general election showed the conservative People's Party (PP) well ahead of the ruling Socialists on Monday, but at the very least needing the support of far-right Vox to govern.
According to the main Spanish pollsters, which are barred from publishing surveys from Tuesday, PP would garner 131-151 seats in the 350-member lower house, falling short of an outright majority of 176.
While some polls showed that even with Vox the right could struggle to achieve a joint majority, the average of all surveys released on Monday by pollsters GAD3, 40db, IMOP, Sigma 2 and Simple Logica shows PP and Vox getting 140 and 36 seats, respectively - just on the line.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) would get 98-115 seats, according to the surveys whose projections work out at an average of 108 seats.
A hypothetical alliance between PP and the anti-immigration, anti-feminist Vox could lead to PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo becoming premier, but much will depend on who comes third in a number of provinces, and how many lawmakers a few regional parties, who have supported Sanchez's minority coalition over the last four years, elect.
A national PP-Vox alliance would give the far-right a role in government for the first time since the current constitution was approved in 1978 after the four decades of Francisco Franco's dictatorship.
Vox is almost neck and neck with Sumar, a new alliance of far-left groups that includes Podemos, the junior ruling coalition partner. Sumar would fetch 25-39 seats, polls show.
In many electoral districts, the third spot is crucial as the fourth placed party generally fails to elect legislators.
Sanchez, who still hopes to have enough support in parliament to form a government, cancelled part of his agenda in Brussels on Monday to join a campaign rally in the northeastern town of Huesca, where the PSOE is fighting to get an extra seat.
Sumar and PSOE have said they intend to recreate the ruling coalition.
Feijoo has been coy about whether he would seal a post-election alliance with Vox even though the two have teamed up in several regions and many municipalities after local elections on May 28, in which the ruling coalition was routed.
Sanchez called the snap election on May 29, apparently hoping to out-manoeuvre the PP and force it to campaign while also negotiating uncomfortable coalition deals with Vox in the regions.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Mike Harrison and Barbara Lewis)
A man walks past electoral posters in Ronda
Updated Mon, July 17, 2023
By Inti Landauro and Andrei Khalip
MADRID (Reuters) -The final opinion polls allowed under Spanish law before the July 23 general election showed the conservative People's Party (PP) well ahead of the ruling Socialists on Monday, but at the very least needing the support of far-right Vox to govern.
According to the main Spanish pollsters, which are barred from publishing surveys from Tuesday, PP would garner 131-151 seats in the 350-member lower house, falling short of an outright majority of 176.
While some polls showed that even with Vox the right could struggle to achieve a joint majority, the average of all surveys released on Monday by pollsters GAD3, 40db, IMOP, Sigma 2 and Simple Logica shows PP and Vox getting 140 and 36 seats, respectively - just on the line.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) would get 98-115 seats, according to the surveys whose projections work out at an average of 108 seats.
A hypothetical alliance between PP and the anti-immigration, anti-feminist Vox could lead to PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo becoming premier, but much will depend on who comes third in a number of provinces, and how many lawmakers a few regional parties, who have supported Sanchez's minority coalition over the last four years, elect.
A national PP-Vox alliance would give the far-right a role in government for the first time since the current constitution was approved in 1978 after the four decades of Francisco Franco's dictatorship.
Vox is almost neck and neck with Sumar, a new alliance of far-left groups that includes Podemos, the junior ruling coalition partner. Sumar would fetch 25-39 seats, polls show.
In many electoral districts, the third spot is crucial as the fourth placed party generally fails to elect legislators.
Sanchez, who still hopes to have enough support in parliament to form a government, cancelled part of his agenda in Brussels on Monday to join a campaign rally in the northeastern town of Huesca, where the PSOE is fighting to get an extra seat.
Sumar and PSOE have said they intend to recreate the ruling coalition.
Feijoo has been coy about whether he would seal a post-election alliance with Vox even though the two have teamed up in several regions and many municipalities after local elections on May 28, in which the ruling coalition was routed.
Sanchez called the snap election on May 29, apparently hoping to out-manoeuvre the PP and force it to campaign while also negotiating uncomfortable coalition deals with Vox in the regions.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Mike Harrison and Barbara Lewis)
No comments:
Post a Comment