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Vol. 10 Issue 229
www.theolivepress.es
December 23rd - January 5th 2015
HISTORIC MOMENT: Pablo Iglesias’ political revolution is born unto parents Rajoy and Sanchez while wise men, Podemos mayors Carmena, ‘Kichi’, and Colau bring gifts and angel Rivera watches. The IU’s Garzon sheep-watches jealously
ELECTION SENSATION
Good tidings and a new dawn in Spanish politics THEY said ‘we can’ and they certainly have, storming the political scene grabbing a massive 69 seats in Spain’s national assembly. On an historic day, anti-corrup-
By Joe Duggan tion party Podemos - meaning ‘we can’ - have changed the face of Spanish politics.
Along with fellow emergent party Ciudadanos, the party led by Pablo Iglesias seized an incredible third of the votes, signalling a break from the traditional two-party system.
“Spain is not going to be the same again,” said the radical pony-tailed leader at a rally on Sunday night. “Today sees the start of a new political era. The forces of change are
Wanted by police and criminal gangs… The man with four names AWOL Simon Corner is key to missing Lisa mystery
MISSING: Lisa
EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION By Tom Powell & Jon Clarke THE AWOL boyfriend of missing Lisa Brown is not just being hunted by police, but also criminal gangs from South America, Morocco and Gibraltar, it can be revealed. The Olive Press has also discovered that Simon Corner, 33, has been using up to four aliases in his shady business life in Southern Spain over the last decade. A source close to the investigation revealed that his real name could be Dean Tripp, while he also uses ‘Dean Woods’ and occasionally the first name ‘Damien’. Lisa’s sister, Helen Jordan, told the Olive
Press last night that Corner had allegedly made contact with police via a legal firm based in Thailand and Spain. The firm insisted he has ‘nothing to hide’ and would hand himself in if necessary. However, the mystery deepened after an Olive Press source, who is a friend of missing Lisa’s, claimed he is NOT actually in Thailand, as reported, but is lying low in Portugal. “We understand a credit card has actually recently been used in the Lisbon area,” said the yacht worker, who has known both Lisa Turn to Page 2
making a historic advance.” In the most dramatic general election day in history, the ruling PP party lost a stunning 3.8 million votes, taking just 123 seats, their worst result ever. Meanwhile, the socialist PSOE won just 90 seats, their lowest total since 1977, and the IU were practically obliterated with just two seats. New party Ciudadanos, led by Albert Rivera, won 40 seats. But now the problems begin, as with no party winning an overall majority, a political pact will be vital to form a government. Podemos and Ciudadanos will almost certainly become kingmakers in any coalition. Meanwhile, stock markets went haywire, as Spain now faces a period of likely prolonged uncertainty as the parties thrash out a deal. Last night, the PSOE confirmed it would not consider taking power with ruling PP leader Mariano Rajoy.
Coalition
SOUGHT: Corner
This means that the PP can only stay in power with the help of Ciudadanos and a mix of other regional parties. However with Rajoy’s clear opposition to Catalan separatism, he is extremely unlikely to get the votes he needs from Spain’s second most important region. On top of this, Ciudadanos have also declared they prefer to be in opposition than pact with the PP. Should Rajoy fail to form a government after Congress reconvenes on January 13, PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez may well be the man tasked with cobbling together a leftist coalition of parties. He will be comforted by the fact that Spain’s electorate have made a clear ‘move to the left,’ as he put it. However, it is not certain that Podemos would consider working with a party, that has long been described as being corrupt and out of touch with the country. If no pact is forthcoming by mid January, Spain will have to go to the polls once more within two months. The horse trading in the coming days will determine how long the uncertainty lasts.