Spanish politicians strip off on campaign posters to push 'transparency' in a corrupt world
The Spanish economy is struggling to emerge from the nuclear winter that was the economic crisis, and, it seems, a new corruption scandal emerges all the time
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Your support makes all the difference.They say that politicians will do anything for a vote, but in Spain this increasingly means candidates getting their kit off to attract the public.
In a perfect world, public figures would entice the voters with their economic policies; their transparency and their active stance against corruption. However, in Spain, where the majority of people will vote in regional and municipal elections next month, the economy is struggling to emerge from the nuclear winter that was the economic crisis, and, it seems, a new corruption scandal emerges all the time.
So how do public figures pull in the voters? By stripping off, it seems. Luis Alberto Nicolas, a Socialist party (PSOE) candidate in Cantabria, is the latest to let it all hang out in his campaign ads. Drawing attention to a range of graft allegations against the national government of the PP party, Mr Nicolas’s campaign posters feature the sultry looking official looking into the camera with only a red rose covering the parts that might be considered unparliamentary. The word “transparent” is emblazoned across the posters.
The message, if a little gratuitous, is simple: I’ve got nothing to hide. Mr Nicolas points out that he doesn’t have overseas assets, a point fresh in Spaniards’ minds after a former PP finance minister, Rodrigo Rato, had his home and office in Madrid raided two weeks ago by tax officials investigating overseas assets.
Mr Nicolas is not the first to use their body in the campaign. A few weeks ago, Yolanda Couceiro Morin, who comes from the other end of the political spectrum, also bared all to highlight corruption allegations against other parties.
Perhaps the most famous campaign poster to feature a naked politician in Spain was that of Albert Rivera, the now 35-year-old leader of Ciudadanos, who launched his party in 2006 by appearing naked on political posters. His party, which is based in Catalonia, has received a surge in support in recent weeks. It now stands in a four-way battle for power, practically level in the polls with the Socialists, the PP and Podemos, itself a new party.
Sadly for Mr Nicolas, the socialist party machine has not necessarily seen the electoral benefit in his stunt, and has ordered the posters to be pulled down. “It is not the way the PSOE conduct electoral campaigns,” party officials told the Spanish news agency Efe.
Since the order from head office, Mr Nicolas has removed his posters and his posts on social media networks. But with the party struggling to capitalise on the problems facing the government, perhaps the socialists might be advised to take a figleaf out of his campaign book.
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