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ELECTION

PROFILE: Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez

A former basketball player once dubbed "Mr Handsome" for his boyish good looks, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is a political survivor.

PROFILE: Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez poses for a selfie with supporters. Photo: Lluis Gene/AFP
His rollercoaster career has played out to the backdrop of chronic instability.
 
As the country heads into its fourth general election in as many years on Sunday, Sanchez's Socialists look certain to win — but without a majority, leaving the country mired in the same political deadlock that has triggered multiple votes.
   
But for this Madrid-born economist, it will be just another twist in a career which saw him emerge from obscurity in 2014 to seize the reins of Spain's oldest political party.
   
Always immaculately suited and booted, this telegenic 47-year-old who likes to go running and looms over his rivals at 1.90 metres (6 foot, 2 inches) tall, has made a name for himself as stubbornly tenacious.
   
Three years ago, he was written off as politically dead, ousted as party chief after leading the Socialists to their worst-ever defeats in 2015 and 2016.
   
Just over six months later, however, he unexpectedly won his old job back in a party primary election after a cross-country tour in his old car to rally support.
   
And by June 2018, he had taken over as premier after an ambitious play that toppled conservative PP leader Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote.   
 
But the fragile alliance that catapulted him to power cracked in February, with the Catalan separatist lawmakers who had supported him rejecting the budget and triggering fresh elections in April, Sanchez's first as prime minister.
   
Although his Socialists won, they fell short of an absolute majority, deepening the political deadlock that has gripped the country for years. Unable to form a government, Sanchez was forced to call a November election, which looks set to bring more of the same.
 
'Resistance Manual'
 
A leap-year baby who was born in Madrid on February 29, 1972, Sanchez grew up in a well-off family, the son of an entrepreneur father and a mother who worked as a civil servant.
   
He studied economics in the Spanish capital before getting a Master's degree in political economy at the Free University of Brussels and a doctorate from a private Spanish university.
   
Married with two adolescent daughters, Sanchez has been quick to cultivate his public image as a family man, describing himself on his Twitter handle as “Spanish prime minister and father”.
   
Politics, though, was always his passion. He joined the Socialist party in his early twenties, then served as an opposition councillor in Madrid from 2004 to 2009, after which he entered parliament as a lawmaker during the Zapatero administration.
   
Earlier this year, Sanchez detailed his triumphs in an autobiography called “Resistance Manual”, the first to be published in Spain by a sitting premier.  He pledged to donate all profits from its sale to the homeless.
 
Franco and the separatists
 
After taking over as premier, Sanchez implemented a series of eye-catching measures, appointing a cabinet with a majority of women, taking in migrants from the Aquarius rescue ship, and raising the minimum wage by 22 percent after years of austerity.
   
And last month, he finally made good on a pledge to exhume the body of Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum, reburying it in a more discreet grave in a country still conflicted over the dictator's decades-long regime.
   
But his premiership has been overshadowed by the Catalan separatist crisis, which in October erupted into mass protests that turned violent after Spain's top court jailed nine regional leaders over a failed 2017 independence bid.
   
Images of Barcelona in flames have not helped Sanchez, whose rightwing rivals have accused him of going soft on the separatists, prompting him to toughen his tone as polls showed a downturn in support for his Socialists.

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ELECTION

German Greens’ chancellor candidate Baerbock targeted by fake news

With Germany's Green party leading the polls ahead of September's general elections, the ecologists' would-be successor to Angela Merkel has become increasingly targeted by internet trolls and fake news in recent weeks.

German Greens' chancellor candidate Baerbock targeted by fake news
The Greens chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock on April 26th. Photo: DPA

From wild claims about CO2-emitting cats and dogs to George Soros photo collages, 40-year-old Annalena Baerbock has been the subject of a dizzying array of fake news, conspiracy theories and online attacks since she was announced as the Greens’ chancellor candidate in mid-April.

The latest polls have the Greens either ahead of or level with Merkel’s ruling conservatives, as the once fringe party further establishes itself as a leading electoral force in Europe’s biggest economy.

Baerbock herself also consistently polls higher than her conservative and centre-left rivals in the race to succeed Merkel, who will leave office after 16 years this autumn.

Yet her popularity has also brought about unwanted attention and a glut of fake news stories aimed at discrediting Baerbock as she bids to become Germany’s first Green chancellor.

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False claims

Among the false stories circulating about Baerbock is the bizarre claim that she wants to ban household pets in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Another fake story firmly denied by the party claimed that she defied rules on mask-wearing and social-distancing by embracing colleagues upon her nomination earlier this month.

Baerbock has also been presented as a “model student” of Hungarian billionaire George Soros – a hate figure for the European far-right and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists – in a mocked-up social media graphic shared among others by a far-right MP.

More serious online attacks include a purported photo of Baerbock which in fact shows a similar-looking naked model.

The Greens’ campaign manager Michael Kellner said that the attempts to discredit Baerbock had “taken on a new dimension”, that “women are targeted more heavily by online attacks than men, and that is also true of our candidate”.

Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock earlier this month. Photo: DPA

Other false claims about the party include reports of a proposed ban on barbecues, as well as plans to disarm the police and enforce the teaching of the Quran in schools.

While such reports are patently absurd, they are potentially damaging to Baerbock and her party as they bid to spring a surprise victory in September.

“She has a very real chance, but the coming weeks are going to be very important because Baerbock’s public image is still taking shape,” Thorsten Faas, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University told AFP.

In a bid to fight back against the flood of false information, the party has launched a new “online fire service” to report fake news stories.

READ ALSO: Greens become ‘most popular political party’ in Germany

Russian disinformation

Yet stemming the tide is no easy job, with many of those who peddle disinformation now using private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram rather than public platforms such as Facebook.

The pandemic and ongoing restrictions on public life will also make it harder for the campaign to push through their own narratives at public events.

Miro Dittrich of Germany’s Amadeu-Antonio anti-racism foundation claims that lockdown has “played a role” in the spread of fake news.

“People are isolated from their social environment and are spending a lot more time online,” he said.

Another factor is Russia, which has made Germany a primary target of its efforts to spread disinformation in Europe.

According to the European anti-disinformation platform EUvsDisinfo, Germany has been the target of 700 Russian disinformation cases since 2015, compared to 300 aimed at France and 170 at Italy.

As an outspoken critic of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, Baerbock may well become a target of such attacks during the election campaign.

By Mathieu FOULKES

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