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Investor confidence in Spain remains low in spite of the high number of parliamentary seats won by the conservative Partido Popular, or People’s Party, in Sunday’s elections. Yesterday the Financial Times reported the cost of three month borrowing was higher for Spain than Greece, and observers wondered if the nation was headed for a bailout request. Conservative incoming Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wont be sworn-in until December 20. His party won 44.6 percent of the vote on a platform of economic reform and promises from Rajoy that, “[w]e will move forward and Spain will be where we all want it to be — at the head of Europe.” His enthusiastic support of austerity measures won him kudos from Britain’s David Cameron who said Rajoy “[won] a crucial argument at a vital time for Spain and Europe.” It was hoped investor confidence would rally after the victory. Rajoy’s plan of cuts to all spending except for pensions resonated with many voters, but did nothing to appease the “Indignados”, the movement of largely Spanish youth who erected tent cities in Madrid, Barcelona and elsewhere in May, inspiring Occupy Wall Street in the US. Writing for The Guardian, Katherine Ainger reported that in the days leading up to the election Spaniards could be seen encouraging a subversion of the vote. The words “ballot box” were scrawled on everything from toilet seats to garbage bins. The Indignados, disillusioned with the current ruling Socialist Party, called for voters to show their disgust with the current political system by voting as “abstain,” “spoiling” the ballot, or voting for a minority party. Independent Spanish Journalist Ter Garcia characterized Sunday’s elections as, “a bitter victory for the May 15th movement.” She observed that the conservative People’s Party only won 500,000 votes more than in 2008, while the Socialist Party lost 4.2 million votes. She writes the Indignado protests succeeded in directing millions of votes to smaller, left-leaning political parties, beginning a long process of remaking the Spanish electoral system.

GUEST: Luis Moreno-Caballud, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania