Spain: Plataforma 2015 y Más calls for responsible vote

Photo: CCOO

Source: Plataforma 2015 y Más

Plataforma 2015 y Más [Platform 2015 and Beyond], one of the focal points of Social Watch in Spain, urged citizens to exert their right to vote with responsibility in the upcoming autonomic and municipal elections on Sunday 22. Thus, citizens were urged to vote for the options that include the defence of public policies in their programmes so as to ensure the State’s commitment to the eradication of poverty and inequalities.

"In the current context of economic crisis, in which neo-liberal policies and the most conservative ideologies benefit a privileged minority while undermining the achievement of the social model of democracy, we invite citizens to actively participate in the political, social, economic and cultural decisions of their communities, demanding local and autonomic governments to be committed to public value and not to make decisions based on the interests of just a few", reads the platform’s statement.

"Now, when we have the opportunity to demand solidarity-led governments that do not conceive development policies and the struggle against poverty as unnecessary and deficit spending but as a public policy directly related to the common wellbeing and the defence of the rights of millions of people, it is necessary to obtain a real commitment to allocate 0.7 per cent of GDP to official development assistance by 2015", it adds.

"Beyond speeches, we demand governments to be coherent with the responsibilities undertaken through the different pacts against poverty, whose lack of fulfilment damages the political credibility and legitimacy of our representatives, besides having serious consequences on poor countries", said this network that gathers 17 non-governmental organizations engaged in promoting the development of the South from Spain.

"This is also the right time to reject the fact that those who have less are the ones that should pay for the worst consequences of a crisis caused by the voracity and irresponsibility of financial speculators", the document adds. "Let us demand political options that make democratically elected public powers prevail over the power of markets, and include in their programmes initiatives aimed at ending with tax havens or taxing financial transactions to put a stop to the casino economy, thus providing enough resources for a sustainable development model based on the rights and the empowerment of people."

"The organizations making up the
Plataforma 2015 y Más promote as a key development factor a true democracy that reinforces the participation of civil society organizations at the different economic, political, environmental and social levels. We urge our governments not to undermine, bring to disrepute or disarticulate the associative network in their communities. Therefore, we demand candidates to explicitly encourage the participation of citizens by means of effective spaces of dialogue, mobilization and political decision-making", the statement says.

"We invite people to cast a responsible vote that may allow us to advance towards a truly democratic and participative economic, social and environmental development model, thus being consistent with a fair and equitable development for all citizens", the text concludes.