The populist drift in Spain

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, before a press conference at the headquarters of the regional government.Emilio Naranjo / EFE

Spain is moving rapidly into the troubled waters of populism and increasingly radical polarization.

The extreme positions take flight, with Madrid as a hyperbolic ideological battlefield on the right-left axis and Catalonia embedded in its disastrous and heartbreaking dynamics.

As if that were not enough, this occurs in the midst of a series of short-sighted or downright shady tactical maneuvers that, in all probability, must be disappointing for a large segment of Spanish society.

Many citizens, legitimately, would like a political class that seriously and serenely addresses the enormous challenges that Spain faces.

There is a feeling that partisan calculations carry an inordinate weight.

The unfortunate motion of censure in Murcia and the call for early elections in the Community of Madrid have precipitated a dangerous dynamic.

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• Spain's populist drift

On the conservative edge, the reconfiguration process concentrates several polarization factors.

The collapse of Ciudadanos annihilates the hopes of having a hinge party that promotes regeneration, pragmatism and liberal visions.

The inability to create a solid structure throughout the national territory and multiple strategic failures have left training badly injured, perhaps at risk of death.

The Popular Party, in turn, suffers from the magnetism that the radical project of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, exerts with increasing force, moving the axis of the party to the right.

The victory in Madrid is an existential question for the PP;

But achieving it with Ayuso's speech will mean the probable death of the moderation bet that the party leader, Pablo Casado, made with the speech of the motion of censure raised by Vox.

All this will probably leave as the only viable interlocutor of the PP precisely the ultra-rightist formation, which already caresses the dream of having a decisive weight - and a governmental role - in the Community of Madrid, a master way to access the institutions.

This dynamic is exacerbated by movements on the progressive flank.

The decision of the leader of United We Can, Pablo Iglesias, to abandon the vice presidency of the Government to compete in the Madrid elections exacerbates that contest, which will greatly influence national politics.

His candidacy settles the debate in the capital region around the absurd ideological pulse between champions of freedom against communism and anti-fascist fighters.

This radical effect is not welcome: Madrid and Spain need something else.

Time will tell what effect this decision will have on the Government of Pedro Sánchez.

To a large extent it will depend on how strongly Iglesias comes out of that competition.

At the outset, two observations can be underlined.

Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labor, who will replace him in the second vice presidency, is a political figure far from the radical rhetoric of her predecessor, and has shown high effectiveness in dialogue with social agents.

Thus, predictably, the Executive will not have to suffer from within the destabilization of a vice president who considered Puigdemont an exile comparable to those who fled Francoism, or who, in full force with Russia, aligned himself with his positions considering that Spain is not a democracy full.

This does not prevent it from being a destabilizing factor of another kind from the outside.

On another level, Catalonia promises to continue being a great factor of polarization.

The election of Laura Borràs as leader of the Parliament and the perpetuation of the independence perimeter in the Government awaken the worst auspices.

All this leaves the PSOE in a very complicated situation, which could try to project an image of moderation and pragmatism, but is hostage in its capacity to govern forces that are pulling the other way.

A mortally wounded Citizens diminishes their possibilities of dialogue towards the center;

Podemos has radical DNA;

and ERC, despite its supposed pragmatism, pursues harrowing goals.

There is not much room for intelligence optimism;

The voices of moderation, on both sides of the political spectrum, must be heard boldly to counter the worst siren calls.

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