According to the World Values Survey (WVS), almost 40% of the Spanish population would prefer an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. The international organisation also finds that this percentage has been increasing in recent years, unlike in most other European countries.
WVS explored the democratic values and opinions of Spanish society between 2010 and 2014. When asked how they would rate a political system with "a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections", 7.6% said it was a "very good" option and 31.9% considered it "fairly good".
Thus, 39.5% of Spaniards are in favour of an authoritarian regime, a similar figure to countries such as Pakistan (42%) or Nigeria (48%).
The World Values Survey shows that positive views for authoritarian leaders have increased in recent years. In 1995, only 20% of Spaniards supported this option, a percentage that has doubled.
The president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, shared the survey on Twitter.
El debat sobre si un règim autoritari és preferible a un sistema democràtic en determinades circumstàncies es pot complementar amb aquestes dades del @ValuesStudies ... i veureu què opina el 40% dels espanyols enquestats. pic.twitter.com/Dw6d5NaqwQ
— Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) 21 de julio de 2018
According to another poll published yesterday, by the Catalan Centre for Opinion Studies, 34.4% of PP voters and 16.6% of Ciudadanos voters in Catalonia said that either "in some circumstances, an authoritarian regime is preferable to a democratic system", or that they "don't mind between a democratic or non-democratic system".
