Letter from Spain #7

Outrage! A general election on 23 July!? Plus TBC research ...

One of the biggest debates in Spain during this past week has been the decision of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a general election for Sunday 23 July. But I’m not talking about the political debate; I’m referring to the outcry from many Spaniards because the choice of date will impact their holidays. And we’ll be in the middle of another heatwave come 23 July, for sure.

It’s something that came up in my chat with Giles Brown on Talk Radio Europe on Wednesday (you can normally find me there on Weds or every other Weds talking about the latest news from Spain) - the fact that it is ‘unprecedented’ for a southern European country to hold an election during (God forbid) the height of summer! 23 July! The outrage!

I don’t know if it’s going to work in Sánchez’s favour or not. He’s gambled in the past and won, so anything could happen. On the political front at home, by choosing 23 July he’s giving the right wing and far right parties no time to celebrate their success in last Sunday’s local and regional elections, or to organise themselves into regional coalitions in order to govern (which they’ll need to do in some areas). On the international front, I believe there are some major NATO and EU ‘summits’ that Sánchez will be showing his face at, just weeks before the election (including Spain taking over the rotating presidency of the EU on 1 July) - so he might also be banking on his ‘statesmanlike’ image - you know, ‘the only guy to lead Spain on the international stage’ image to carry him through to another term - especially as his main rival, the leader of the PP opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, admitted this week that he can’t speak English, ‘but will study it’ (bless him).

Sánchez might also be banking on the fact that it will be around 43 degrees celsius on 23 July, too, because he’s also up against a number of opposition politicians who are as good as climate change deniers. Spain’s firefighters had a really tough year last year, but I fear that the date will probably coincide with wildfires across the country again, too.

But it all might backfire on Sánchez, of course, because to coincide a general election with the summer holidays in Spain has been widely viewed as an act of sacrilege.

Feijóo himself said that Sánchez wanted to force voters ‘to choose between ballot boxes and holidays … [but] we want them to pick either Sánchez or Spain’. He also said that ‘calling elections on the hottest dates in our country and during the largest holiday exodus is an unprecedented event in almost half a century of democracy. Does he want the least turnout?’

Spanish media have been talking non-stop about whether citizens should cancel holidays or vote by post. Postal workers have complained about the extra work they’ll have. The 23 July election also means that thousands of officials will be forced to work at polling stations (like jury service) and half a million others will be summoned to work alongside them. Spanish law only allows absence for ‘family events of particular importance’, illness or similar … not holidays … and there could be fines of up to €5,000 or even prison sentences for those who refuse to work at polling stations, or for falsifying an excuse to be absent. It’s going to be an interesting eight weeks ahead …

The Barcelona Connection - research & dates for diary

I wrote last week that I’m going to start writing more here about the research that I carried out for The Barcelona Connection. Have you read the book yet? Here’s a latest review and there are more each day on Amazon and Goodreads. Click here to choose where to order it from!

So … Chapter 1 … Benjamin waking up at the service station is right here … El Gironès, just near Girona Airport on the AP-7 motorway, direction towards Barcelona. You probably think I’m mad (and I probably am), but I’ve been to this service station many times, researching it, checking how Benjamin could walk to the airport from there, timing the distance from Nîmes and on to Barcelona, the toll tickets involved, how he could see the control tower of the airport across the field, and the gate he pushes through to finally stagger down the lane towards the airport itself …

More soon …

Don’t forget these dates for your diary if you are in Barcelona or Madrid:

On Thursday 29 June at 7pm, I’m going to be doing an official presentation of the book in the company of the British Consul in Catalonia, Lloyd Milen, MBE. The event is taking place at the Alibri bookshop on the Carrer de Balmes, 26 - and it would be wonderful to see you there. Further info can be found here: https://www.alibri.es/events/2119.

It is now also confirmed that I will be doing an event at The Secret Kingdoms bookstore in Madrid on Thursday 28 September. More details on that in due course.