Spain: Podemos Ends Bi Partisan Rule

In Spáin, local elections have redrawn the political map. Supporters of the anti-austerity Podemos party celebrated after the coalition it supported won in Barcelona and appears to be all set to govern in the capital city of Madrid. The ruling Popular Party garnered the most votes but it lost its majority in 500 towns and cities across Spain. Post-electoral alliances could lead to anti-austerity movements taking control in Valencia, Zaragoza and several other major cities. In Barcelona, the head of the ruling coalition that includes Podemos is Ada Colau, who has a record of moving to stop the evictions of people who couldn’t pay their mortgages following the collapse of Spain’s housing market in 2009. She has pledged to impose punitive taxes on banks that carry out foreclosures, as well as to stop privatizations and curb electricity and transport prices. Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy admitted that his Popular Party didn’t do as well as he had hoped. teleSUR