Spain: Is ideology back in populist discourse?

Abstract

The hit of the pandemic in Spain has been one of the most important in number of deaths and infected people in all Europe and the central government implemented one of the toughest confinement measures. Aside from this government's performance, opposition parties, and particularly VOX, have mainly driven the political tension that has filled Spain during the months of lockdown. In this scenario, VOX has sensed this opportunity and has decided to use the pandemic to direct fierce criticism at the Spanish government, to the point of becoming practically an anti-establishment party. In a complete different role, Podemos has been conditioned by its institutional position as part of the Spanish government. While the two parties have adopted differing strategies towards the government's performance, however, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both have discarded their populist standpoints to a great extent and, instead, highlighted the ideological content of their proposals.