The art of electoral cartology —the descriptive interpretation of posters before an election— is reborn every time the ballot boxes are dusted off, and in the case of the Andalusian elections on May 17, it could be no different. The parties running in the 17-M inaugurated the campaign last night, with a poster posting that is already as traditional as it is symbolic, unveiling their slogans and composition.
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Four of the five main parties —PP, PSOE, VOX, Adelante Andalucía, and Por Andalucía— seeking representation in the Andalusian Parliament chose to show the faces of their presidential candidates on the poster. Moreno Bonilla and Montero smile openly; José Ignacio García (Adelante) does too, but looks sideways.
In the Por Andalucía poster, Maíllo smiles more subtly, dressed in a white shirt against a background that repeats his surname. Maíllo is also the word that appears in the largest font size on the entire poster, above the seven logos of the parties forming the coalition. By the way: read from left to right, Podemos appears before Sumar.
Among the brightness of all the posters, the green of the Andalusian flag stands out in the five, in different shades. In the PSOE poster, the green —more pistachio— is provided by the jacket worn by María Jesús Montero, as striking as her digital watch, camouflaged behind the word “public.” In the case of Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the background of orange trees in spring fills the poster with green. Adelante Andalucía plays with two shades of green, on a background of streets characteristically Andalusian, which could just as well lead to the Corredera in Córdoba as to the Mentidero in Cádiz.
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The Por Andalucía poster has no identifiable background, but it does have five different shades of green, which may symbolize the plurality embraced by the coalition, which presents itself with the slogan “The Andalusian left [singular].”
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Vox does not worry about green, among other things because it is the color of their party. For the poster, they have opted for a darker shade, closer to the green stripes of the regional flag. Vox also breaks the mold of the single photo: the ultra party places its candidate and the party president, the much more recognizable Santiago Abascal, side by side on a poster without proper names under the slogan “Common Sense.” A small Spanish flag is seen at the bottom of a poster that looks like a template: just change the candidate’s photo for it to be universally usable in any election.
If the far right does not show a name, the right shows only the first name. “Juanma, president” is the signature of the PP poster, a nominal use that has been more frequent on the left. It was Felipe who faced Fraga and Aznar, not González who confronted Manuel and José María.
On the left, the PSOE poster does show the full name of its presidential candidate, María Jesús Montero, although the messages leading the poster are two: “Vote” and “Health.” Perhaps because the socialist candidate bets her success on participation (“Vote”) and on the poor management of breast cancer screenings in Andalusia (“Health”).
On the Por Andalucía poster, Maíllo has no name: it is just Maíllo, plain and simple, without indicating that his first name is Antonio.
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