Words to do with politics are highlighted throughout and then explained below the text in the Politcal Vocabulary glossary 
The conservative People’s Party (PP) have romped to victory in the Spanish general election. With over 90% of the votes cast, PP’s majority was overwhelming and the night was all the more humiliating for the defeated Socialists as they polled their lowest share of the vote ever, winning only 110 seats. Apparently, the 56 year-old, Rajoy the new Spanish leader is uncharismatic and not hugely popular with the electorate, but they had grown tired of the leftwing Zapatero who had overseen an economic slump that left the country with 0% growth and an unemployment rate of 23%. However, Zapatero will stay on as caretaker prime minister until December 13th. This is the earliest date that Spanish law allows for the King of Spain to give approval to form a new government. Rajoy does not really have the luxury of celebrating a honeymoon period even after his party’s overwhelming success at the ballot box. Some commentators have said that it wasn’t really a case of the PP party winning a mandate on Sunday, but rather the socialist’s traditional voter base deserting them and the PSOE party losing 4.5 million votes. This follows several other European countries where the presiding government has been thrown out as the voters hold them as scapegoats for the current ecnomic crisis gripping Europe. However, the international stock markets reacted badly to the news, as the handover period to the new government taking power leaves Spain in a position of political inactivity just at the moment when they need economic decisions to be made. When Rajoy does take power, Spaniards can expect immediate, hard-to-swallow austerity measures. Experts say that Rajoy will need to implement tax rises and cuts to fill an €18 bn hole in the national finances. Rajoy declared in his victory speech that, “Today more than ever our destiny is played out in and with Europe. We will stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.” Fortunately, Spaniards could vote without the threat of Eta-led violence. This is the first time in decades that a Spanish election has not had a shadow cast over it from the Basque separatist group. They declared an end to 40 years of violent terrorism in October in the hope of achieving a peaceful resolution through dialogue and the political process.
Political Vocabulary
- conservative
- right wing political views
- romped to victory
- a term from horse racing meaning that they were a clear winner by a big distance
- general election
- political decision making process for the whole country i.e. NOT local election
- majority
- biggest number to make a victory
- votes
- the indication of a choice
- cast
- the verb that goes with the noun ‘vote’ i.e. to make a vote
- polled
- scored, won, gained
- seats
- a place in an elected body
- electorate
- the people who vote
- leftwing
- the socialist, liberal or radical section of a political party
- caretaker
- in politics: someone who takes charge during a period of transition
- prime minister
- the leader of the party in government
- ballot box
- the thing that electors put their vote in
- mandate
- the authority to carry out a course of action. regarded as given by the electorate to a victorious party
- voter base
- political support that a party can traditionally rely on
- presiding
- to be in a position of authority
- scapegoats
- person/s blamed for a problem, mistakes
- austerity measures
- difficult economic conditions to reduce a governement budget by hugely reducing public expenditure
