A Tale of Two Countries (1983-1993)

13. "La verdadera izquierda".
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13. "La verdadera izquierda".

Even the most untrained observer knew that the Spaniards were tired of politics. The elections of October 1989 were the third ones since 1987, and the political deadlock wore down the support of González. Anyway, he went undaunted forwards, campaigning as if he was back in 1982. Never before had the oral skills of the Socialist leader been better, never before he had been more witty, never before he had been more poignant and expressive. However, it was not enough. Even Boyer, who wasn't neither as orally gifted nor as popular than González, managed to do better than expected even achieving an unexpected victory in the Basque Country, where the nationalist parties were unable to repeat the success of the last General Elections.

It was clear than the PSOE was exhausted and than even its voters wanted something different. The PP of Vestrynge kept its ground and its seats, winning even a few more votes, but the result only proved that the PP was in no position to defy the bipartidist system, something that could be said about the PCE, too. Furthermore, the small local parties suffered, as it had happened in the Basque Country, a lost of trust from its voters, that either voted PSOE or refrained from voting at all. This was the case of UV and EE, that lost its representation in the Parliament. Only the Aragonese PAR was the exception, as it doubled its voters. But this was just an anecdote in the chaotic political scene of Spain.

PSOE (González) 7,253,409 votes - 41.04 %- 156 seats (+254,941 votes, +1 seats)
UCD (Boyer) - 5,991,127 votes - 29.5 % - 106 seats (+952,145 votes, +8 seats)
PP (Vestrynge) - 1,531,291 votes - 7.95 % - 13 seats (+24,575 votes, no seats change)
PCE (Iglesias) - 1,690,278 votes - 8,87% - 15 seats (-168,310 votes, -5 seats)
PNV (Anasagasti) - 289,701 votes - 1,54% - 5 seats (+75,020 votes, -1 seat)
Herri Batasuna (Esnaola) - 186,410 votes - 0,96 % - 1 seat (-31,132 votes, -1 seat)
Partido Andalucista (Rojas Marcos) 212, 687 votes - 1,14 % - 2 seats (+86,971 votes, no seats change)
Union Valenciana (González Lizondo) 121,768 votes - 0,41% - 0 seat (-23,161 votes, -1 seat)
Eusko Alkartasuna (Azkarraga) 136,955 votes - 0,48% - 1 seat (-25,252 votes, no seats change)
Euskadiko Ezkerra (Garmedia) 79,105 votes - 0,31% - 0 seat (-34,133 votes, -1 seat)
Partido Aragonés Regionalista (Mur) 151 420 - 0,51% - 2 seats (+80,697 votes, +1 seat)
Bloque Nacionalista Galego (Beiras) 47.864 votes - 0,23% - 1 seat (+101 votes, no seats change)

González managed to win the support of the PCE, EE, EA and the BNG, and formed his fourth cabinet as prime minister of Spain, even if he had to swallow his pride and to give one ministry to Iglesias (Labour), which, eventually, became a poisoned gift for the Communist leader, as we shall see. Gerardo Iglesias boasted, fill with pride, that the "verdadera izquierda" (the true Left) was to govern Spain. However, hardly six months after the elections, the "caso Guerra" (Guerra Scandal) flooded the first pages of the national press.
 
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14. From the "Caso Guerra" to the "Expo-Liación"
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14. From the "Caso Guerra" to the "Expo-Liación"


Just as Spain began to give to the world an image as a modern and advance country with the first steps to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, a political scandal rocked Spain. Since joining the EEC the Spanish economy had recovered thanks to increased productivity and surging exports, even if unsustainable fiscal deficits threatened this growth. Furthermore, since 1989 unemployment had began to fall slightly down (from 15.6% in 1989 to 11% in 1991).

Then the "caso Guerra" (Guerra Scandal) exploded. Juan Guerra, brother of Alfonso Guerra, right hand of Felipe González and his vice chairman, was accused of bribery, tax fraud, prevarication and misuse of public funds. This scandal opened the can of worns and begn by forcing Alfonso Guerra to resign. He was replaced as vice chairman in the Spanish government by Julián García Vargas, the Minister of Defence. But the scandal did not stop here. When José Luis Roldán, General Director of the Guardia Civil, was arrested in late 1991 (1) after being accused of bribery, tax evasion and fraud and embezzlement, the PSOE distanced themselves from Roldán with party leaders like Manuel Chaves calling him "villain", a "rotten applen" of an otherwise clean party (Guerras aside, of course).

Upset by this treatment, Roldán began to give information about corruption implicating other members of the PSOE and soon the newspapers had the political scandal on their first pages. The situation went worse in 1992 as many industrial figures and politicians from both the government and the opposition were arrested on charges of corruption. A feeling of fear and paranoia spread all around the PSOE, CDS and PP as those politicians who got caught felt betrayed by what they perceived by a lack of support from the party and, as Roldan had done, began to give information about cases that implicated many other figures, who in turn would implicate even more.

During the International Exposition (the Expo) of Sevilla in 1992 the scandal appeared to go down, but it soon resurfaced after the Expo was over when another scandal was added to the ones ongoing: the widespread misuse of public funds during the Expo. Ironically, Manuel Chaves, president of the Andalucian local government since 1990, was one of the politicians arrested for the "caso Expo" (Expo Scandal) or the "Expo-liación" (Pillage), as the scandal was called by the press. When Chaves faced his trial in 1993, he declared that his crimes were not for his personal gain but for the party's benefit, and accused the financing system of all the political parties.

The effect of this scandal was clearly seen in the May 1991 local elections, when the PSOE lost half of their votes, while the PP lost two thirds of their votes. Even the CDS, the less hard hit of all the parties along the PCE, lost around 10% of their voters. Rocked by the scandals, Felipe González resigned as leader of the PSOE and left the government, being replaced in both by Joaquín Almunia, who started a wide a harsh purge of corrupted elements of the PSOE. Eventually, Felipe González would face prosecution for bribery and corruption in 1995.


(1) This took place in OTL 1993
 
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15. The aftermath of the Universal Deluge.
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González vs Boyer

15. The aftermath of the Universal Deluge.


Eventually, the aftermath of the "Expo scandal" would end up with the dissolution of the PSOE in 1994, when almost all of its longtime leaders in jail or facing a trail, Joaquín Almunia annouced the end of the ancient party in an extraordinary meeting in Madrid (July 1994). From this moment on there would be several attempts to create a new Socialist party (Partido Socialista -PS, Socialist Party, led by Almunia; Partido de los Trabajadores -PT - Workers' Party; led by Javier Solana) that were going to merge, in 1998, to form the Partido Socialdemócrata (PSD - Socialdemocraticparty), under Solana.

The PP would not fare better, even if for some years it seemed to be clean from any serious accusation. Under Jesús Posada, the PP managed to get along until 1996, when the "Zamora scandal" show that the PP in Zamora had used ilegal funds for its political campaign. When Miguel Ángel Perez was sent to prison for another scandal, the PP also began to suffer the sames troubles that the PSOE had. Thus, in 2000, the PP went down in flames, even if its new president, Teofila Martínez (2000-2004) struggled to get the trust of the voters by severaly pruging the party. By the end of its tenure, little of the PP had survived and his new president, Mariano Rajoy, dissolved it in 2006 to create, in 2008, the Partido Démocrata Español (PDE - Democratic Party of Spain).

Ironically, UCD seemed to be clean of all sins. A few "rotten apples", a few of minor things, but, all in all, UCD and Miguel Boyer seemed to go on like a shinning example of what a real political party should be... until 2003, when a scandal comming from Galicia made the proverbial matter to hit the fan.

The feeling of crisis could be seen in the General Elections of 1994. The PSOE, of course, was a in dire situation; the only thing that mattered was how many voters would still trust Almunia; even the PCE was damaged. Its leader, Gerardo Iglesias, had resigned and withdrew from politics when his ministry of Labour was damaged by the Expo scandal. Even if there was nothing against him, Iglesias felt responsible for the complete mismanagement of the ministry; futhermore, as some of his closest assistants and advicers came under fire, he considered himself tainted. Thus his resignation and withdrawal from politics.

The political campaign of 1993 is remembered by the apathy of the voters, the sad campaign of the PSOE and the even saddest role of Almunia, made even worse by the "shinning knight" card that Boyer and UCD played in their politicial campaign. and the colorful, bordering even some creepy moments, rise of the Grupo Independiente Liberal (GIL - Independent Liberal Group) led by Jesús Gil y Gil (1), a party that claimed to be center right but was, in some ocasions, placed to the right of the PP. All in all, it was a sad thing to see.

UCD (Boyer) - 9,216,006 votes - 38.8 % - 152 seats (+3, 225,879 votes, +46 seats)
PSOE (Almunia) 2,639,774 votes - 10,54% - 31 seats (-5,416,365 votes - 140 seats)
PCE (Anguita) - 2,238,732 votes - 8,87% - 25 seats (+548,454 votes, +10 seats)
PP (Posada) - 731,051 votes - 3.45 % - 5 seats (-800,240 votes, -8 seats)

With the PSOE on the verge of ruin, Boyer seemed to be in position to rule Spain without oposition and for a long time...



(1) Imagine a weird crossing between Ross Perot and Silvio Berlusconni with extra weight and a lot of populist mob oratory.
 
16. The Fallen Idol.
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16. The Fallen Idol.

Following the resignation of Obios in the PSC, a surprise shook the political scene of Catalonia when Joan Hortalà, the leader of ERC, suddenly resigned and joined Roca's PCC. He was replaced by a young politician, Àngel Colom, that was known for his radical positions and his jingoism, which rose above the nationalist level that Roca had reached so far. On their part, the PSUC, in spite of the best efforts to revive it, was clearly an enemy beaten and soon it began to fall apart. A change in leadership seemed to stop this decadence when Rafael Ribó became general secretary of the party and entered a coalition with Entesa del Nacionalistes de Catalunya (ENC- Agreement of the Nationalists of Catalonia), a moderate split of ERC created in 1985. The coalition, called Unió de la Esquerra Catalana (UEC - Union of the Catalan Left), seemed to give a new breath to the old party, even if many voices from within the PSUC claimed that the party was beign marginalized within the coalition as its ideas were being betrayed. In fact, with Ribó the UEC seemed to be a Catalan version of the German party Die Grünen but with a typical Communist Catalan style.

Meanwhile, Roca was having a great time in the Generalitat. From 1990 to 1993 the battle against inflation was apparently won, giving rise to an economic boom bolstered by the Olympic Games of Barcelona'92. If in 1990 there were 66.000 unemployed people (a 12% of the total working force), by 1992 there were only 58,000 and, in 1993, 49,500.

However, the average home price in Catalonia doubled between 1990 and 1993, specially after the Olympic games, when prices in Barcelona seemed to go over the top. This led to the government doubling interest rates as inflation increased in those years. When the United States entered into recession in 1989 (1), economists began to warn that the economic boom would soon be over. This voices were heard as early as in September 1991, but the incoming Olympic Games filled Roca and his cabinet with pride and made them to turn their eyes away from the threat until it was too late.

By 1992 the heavy taxes began came under fire and from there troubles began for Roca, as he threat of recession finally became reality in October 1993, when it was confirmed that the economy had declined during the third quarter of the year. Unemployment started to rise again and inflation, was touching again 10% for the first time in eight years. Then, in October 27 that year, Joaquim Molins, minister of Public Works, resigned from his post, denounced Roca's policies and challenged his leadership of the party.

In the contest that followed, even if Roca defeated Molins, it became obvious that the party was divided on the question of Roca's leadership and that his style was too divisive for the good of the PCC so, finally, after some heated meatings, on November 3, Roca resigned. His successor was, ironically, the minister that had replaced Molin, Artur Mas.



(1) 1988 IOTL
 
Well, with this we have reached 1993 and the end of this part of the tale. I think I'm going to take a bit of a rest before I go for the third part (1993-2003), as I have another idea in mind with my 19th century project... Time will tell.

Thanks all for reading!
 
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