Ireland is not the only EU country to have experienced dramatic changes to its political landscape last weekend. Sunday's municipal and autonomous community elections in Spain suggest that the two-party mould that shaped its politics since the late 1970s transition from General Franco's dictatorship has been broken open.
The habitual alternation of power between the deeply conservative Partido Popular (PP) and the centre-left Socialist Party (PSOE) has provided a long period of stability. But it also created complacency and stagnation in political thought, and opportunities for corruption that top members of both parties embraced. An economic crisis that has kept youth unemployment above 50 per cent and caused thousands of evictions has created widespread anger against the political elite.
The 15-month-old anti-austerity movement Podemos, which denounces both parties to this establishment as La Casta (the Caste), has channelled this fury especially effectively. It now holds the balance of power in a multitude of municipalities and regional governments. The PP had hoped that the past year's much-vaunted upturn in the Spanish economy might stem this angry tide, but growth has failed to benefit the majority most hurt by the crisis.
True, the PP remains the largest party nationally after Sunday's vote. Meanwhile, Podemos has slipped from an extraordinary peak in opinion polls last January, which saw it displace the PSOE as the second national party, and nipping at the PP's heels. But Podemos and associated radical groups can now set conditions for PSOE administrations in many of Spain's largest cities and regions. In Madrid, a Podemos ally took 20 seats, twice as many as the PSOE, and one less than the PP, which has governed the capital for 24 years.
The new mayor is likely to be anti-eviction activist Manuela Carmona. Her priorities – an end to evictions and privatisation of services; free electricity and water for the poorest; extension of health services; an emergency youth jobs plan.
The Podemos movement has hoovered up almost all remaining support from the historic Spanish communist movement. It has even defeated both centrist and leftist Catalan nationalists in Barcelona. It would be ironic indeed if economic radicalism, rather than Spanish nationalism, puts a brake on the apparently unstoppable Catalan momentum towards independence.
A new conservative party, Ciudadanos (Citizens), untainted by corruption or Francoism, has taken many PP votes on the right. The result translated to November’s general elections points to a Spain so fragmented that its government will require very unfamiliar skills in coalition-building. Meanwhile, a conservative administration has to deal with many big city and regional governments determined to reverse most of its harsh austerity measures.