Oct
20
On Sunday, people in Galicia in northwest of the country and Basque region will cast their votes on a single day of voting to elect local parliaments, city mayors and regional governors.
According to experts, the vote in Galicia, which is one of the country’s 17 autonomous regions, has become a referendum on central government’s austerity policies.
Regional elections in the Basque region including the northern city of Bilbao is said to be critical for Spanish authorities, since people in that region historically have called for full independence from the central government in Madrid.
On September 27, the government of Mariano Rajoy revealed the budget that includes EUR 39 billion (USD 50 billion) in spending cuts in an effort to bring the country’s huge debts under control.
Spain is engulfed in recession with a jobless rate of over 25 percent, and is going through crippling market interest rates.
The Spanish government has also been sharply criticized over the austerity policies that are hitting the middle and working classes the hardest.
Public protests have grown in the country over speculation that the government will seek a Greek-style European bailout to keep its borrowing costs in check.
Spain aims to find 102 billion euros in budget cuts and tax increases by 2014 so as to lower the public deficit from a blowout figure of 8.9 percent of economic output last year to 2.8 percent.
MAM/JR
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