Spain's indignados could rule Barcelona and Madrid after local election success (The Guardian)
Spain's ruling PP gets worst local election result in 20 years (Reuters)
Spanish Voters Turn to Political Upstarts in Regional Elections(The Wall Street Journal)
Protest parties make gains in major cities as voters voice anger over
corruption and high unemployment (The Telegraph)
Spanish
elections: Spain enters new era
As expected, in
the wake of the economic crisis and high-profile corruption scandals 1________
have tarnished the reputation of the traditional political parties in Spain,
the country has now entered a new political era.
Anti-austerity parties, linked 2_____________
the Podemos movement on the far left, which is barely one year old, have the prestige of holding power in
Barcelona, and could form a coalition to rule in the Spanish capital.
Across the country the ruling Popular
Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has 2____________ punished.
The PP will hold onto the fact that they
still have the highest share of the vote of any single party. 3______________,
they have lost absolute majorities in regional parliaments across the country,
including in traditional heartlands like Valencia, 4_____________ the party
has been badly damaged 5______________
corruption.
Barcelona in itself is an incredible
story. The new mayor will be Ada Colau, a woman 6______________who made her
name by campaigning for people who 7____________ pay their mortgages, and who faced eviction by
the banks after Spain's construction bubble burst.
In the capital Madrid, the PP won the
municipal election but could still lose control of the city council.
The ruling
party took 21 seats but Ahora Madrid, backed
by the leftist anti-corruption party Podemos, took 20. Ahora Madrid could now
form a coalition 8___________ the Socialists who came third.
Analysts say that similar deals could take
place in a number of councils 9______________ as Valencia, further eroding the
local power of the PP.
The ruling party may also need to make
pacts of its own with the pro-business Cuidadanos party in places such as
Murcia and La Rioja.
Spain is unfamiliar with governing
coalitions 10_______________ the PP and the Socialists have dominated for
decades.
Anti-eviction activist Ada
Colau, who is supported 11_______Podemos, has also won the most votes
in the mayoral race for Barcelona, Spain's second 12______ city.
"I want to be a mayor 13______
the service of the people, so there will never again be first-class citizens
and second-class citizens in this town," she said, as quoted by El Pais
newspaper.
Last year was the first time
there has been full-year economic growth in Spain 14_______ 2008, when a
property bubble burst, putting
millions of people 15_____ of work and pushing the country to the
brink of a bail-out.
The government's labour
reforms have reduced the cost of hiring and firing. However, unemployment
remains 16________, with nearly one 17_________ four workers without
a job.
Turnout was marginally
higher 18_________ in the last election, in 2007.
Find words in the text which
mean the same as the following:
- loan for the purchase of property
- supported
- exploded
- governing, in power
- harmed
- hardly
