UNDECIDED but disillusioned, Spain's public – citizens only – will have to decide whether to place their future in the hands of the tried-and-tested who have disappointed them in the past, or the complete unknown quantity of independent or minority parties.
The right-wing PP, peppered with corruption scandals and responsible for high taxes, low wages and high job turnover, has nonetheless claimed credit for the economy returning to growth and a gradual improvement in its financial situation.
Yet the left-wing PSOE, or socialists, say the debt and unemployment is higher now than when they left it and pension pots halved, having been plundered by the PP, with the welfare state all but dismantled and education and healthcare struggling to cope.
Interviews with some business owners reveal 'things are definitely improving' and 'consumer confidence is growing', but with those who have been out of work for six or seven years – with only short-term, part-time jobs earning a pro-rata of the minimum full-time wage of €645 a month paint a very different picture.
Unemployment is down, they say, because after years of looking for jobs without even an interview, many have simply stopped re-registering every quarter with the dole office as they cannot see the point – and a record number of Spaniards, mostly the under-35s with no children but high qualifications and limited work experience through lack of opportunities – have emigrated to Germany, the UK and Scandinavia, among other countries, meaning they no longer show up on the dole register.
Tourism is rising rapidly, especially among foreign sunseekers, and house prices and sales are slowly climbing again – but many attribute this to improving economies in northern Europe producing more tourists and second-home buyers, combined with the instability in other traditional but once much cheaper beach destinations such as Turkey, Tunisia and Sharm El-Sheikh on Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
Until now, the PP has been winning in the polls, but Mariano Rajoy has the lowest rating of any leader.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com