THREE-QUARTERS of all Spanish people interviewed say they believe political parties' electoral campaign promises should constitute a legally-binding contract.
According to the Sigma Dos questionnaire distributed by the Transform Spain Foundation, eight in 10, or 79.8% consider these manifestos to be 'important' when deciding whom to vote for, and just over half - 50.3% - say it is their content that influences them more than the party's political colours or the candidates.
In three out of four cases, or 74.8% of respondents, voters believe that as they cast their ballots in good faith based upon these promises, they should be enforced if the party gets into power and that, if the politicians in question breach the contract, they should be treated in the same way as if they had broken any other binding trade agreement: required to fulfil their side of the bargain, resign, face financial sanctions, or otherwise be held accountable.
An overwhelming majority, nine in 10, believe elected parties are generally very unlikely to do what their manifesto says; in fact, whilst 46% say they 'rarely' do so, 44% say they 'never' do.
And more than nine in 10 Spaniards interviewed - 93.4% - say failure to fulfil the aims of an electoral campaign programme means society loses trust in the party itself and the entire political system.
Independent party Podemos' faction in the capital, Ahora Madrid, and its leader Manuela Carmena - now mayoress - said before the elections that her programme was 'only a suggestion'; rival candidate on the PP Esperanza Aguirre produced just one sheet of paper with 10 bullet points, and the now-ex regional president of Castilla-La Mancha and secretary-general of the PP-run central government María Dolores de Cospedal failed to produce her own manifesto until May 22 this year, when the public was due to go to the polls on May 24.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com