It has not been a good week for Spain's embattled Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Following what Bloomberg calls "its worst election result in 25 years," in Andalusia (the nation's most populous region); the corruption scandals re-rear their ugly head:
- *SPAIN RULING PEOPLE'S PARTY MAY HAVE HAD SECRET ACCOUNTS: COURT
- *SPAIN COURT SEES POSSIBLE TAX FRAUD BY COUNTRY'S RULING PARTY
Spanish bond risk widened 4-5bps on the day as both events confirm the rise of anti-EU parties Podemos and Ciudadanos.
As Bloomberg reports, things were already bad enough with dismal voting results...
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party scored its worst election result in 25 years in Spain’s most populous region, adding to pressure on the party leadership before general elections.
Rajoy’s PP got 26.8 percent in Andalusia, compared with 40.7 percent in the last regional vote in 2012, according to the regional government data. That’s the lowest level of support since 1990, when the PP got 22.2 percent.
Andalusia’s ballot marks the start of a Spanish electoral marathon to choose another 14 regional presidents, more than 8,000 mayors, and a new national government in the next 10 months. Rajoy struggled to mobilize his voters even as the fourth largest economy in the euro region is growing at the fastest pace since 2007. No date has been set for the national election which must be held by January 2016.
“Alternative leadership to Rajoy should be an urgent first point of discussion for the party based on public opinion criteria,” said Lluis Orriols, a political scientist at Carlos III University in Madrid.
And then this hit... People’s Party may be responsible for a possible tax fraud, a special court, known as Audiencia Nacional, says in e-mailed ruling
- *SPAIN RULING PEOPLE'S PARTY MAY HAVE HAD SECRET ACCOUNTS: COURT
- *SPAIN COURT SEES POSSIBLE TAX FRAUD BY COUNTRY'S RULING PARTY
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“It also confirms the rise of Podemos and Ciudadanos, although both of them will have to do better in the future if they want to become real challengers to mainstream parties.”

