Weryfikacja wyborcza partii regionalnych w Hiszpanii

Abstract

This paper contains the author’s original definitions of decentralization, territorial autonomy and an overview of the Spanish territorial structure, as well as definition of a regional party. Analysis of the 2011–2015 Cortes Generales and regional parliamentary elections leads one to conclude, that despite a dynamic development of regional parties their position on the state and regional level had nonetheless significantly declined. State-wide parties are still dominant, in spite of an acute decomposition in the party system and losing the dual-party feature. Election results show that the financial crisis and external threats positively influence the growth in power of state-wide parties. In this context the political and party situation in Catalunya is profoundly distinctive, but the role of traditional independence-centered regional parties after the last regional (September 2015) and parliamentary (December 2015) elections is in decline. Ideological and political polarization in that region, though intensified, does not grant a decisive advantage for independence-centered parties.