Podemos' optimism grows in light of electoral victory for party's Greek counterpart, Syriza
Monday, January 26, 2015 @ 12:23 PM
GREECE'S ground-breaking election results have thrown Spain into the spotlight as the likelihood of newly-formed left-wing independents, Podemos, netting the lion's share of the votes appears stronger than ever.
Podemos - which translates as 'we can' - started up a year ago in a garage in Madrid at the hands of 36-year-old Pablo Iglesias, a lecturer in politics at the city's Complutense University, where he obtained his PhD in the subject, living in a rented flat with his dog on a salary of less than €1,000 a month.
And Iglesias is a great friend of his Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza (ΣΥРΙΖΑ), a party which is considered to be very similar to Podemos and which has just won the majority of votes in the country's general elections.
Both parties were formed in response to the 'collective anger' and 'fed-up' sentiments of Greek and Spanish societies, according to analysts, although Syriza has been on the scene for 25 years and Podemos for one - but neither has any experience yet of leading a country.
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