Spanish elections: A possibly unwanted social studies lesson

There are elections here on March 9th. You cast one vote. This one vote is for the PARTY that you want to rule. You don´t vote for a candidate for this office or that; you vote for his or her party. The votes are added up and government offices are divided up between the parties to represent the popular vote. The winning party´s president remains president of his or her party and becomes the president of the national government as well.

The contending parties for more or less the last 30 years have been the Popular Party and the Socialist Workers Party. The Popular Party is more conservative than the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party has been in power since 2004.