IN CHARTS
Spanish local elections: Valencia’s water war threatens to sink socialist
Irrigation is a key issue for Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Feijóo in fiercely fought regional elections
A firefighting helicopter in operation in March. Spanish farming is suffering from record temperatures and drought
JOSE JORDAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Times
It’s raining tax breaks, freebies and discounts in Spain, but there is also an all-too-literal drought and for the farmers of Alicante — in the “garden of Europe” — the government’s largesse is too little, too late.
Walking among rows of pomegranate and fig trees on his land near Elche in Alicante, a province of the eastern Valencia region, Roque Bru voiced fears that government policies would “send my farm back to the time of my grandparents, when it lacked water and only had almond and carob”.
For Bru, 46, elections on May 28 in municipalities across Spain and in 12 of its 17 regions, including Valencia, are an opportunity to oust the Socialist Workers’ Party of Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister. “Everyone wants
