ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2019: THE FETUS AND THE PROMISE OF BRIGHT FINANCIAL FUTURE FOR HIS LARGE FAMILY

“I solemnly swear that if elected fetuses will be counted as full members of the family”

by Rose Maramba

The campaign for the snap election in Spain on 28 April is in dizzying full swing. Not that it hasn’t been for some time now despite the fact that the official start date was only yesterday, 12 April 2019.

The politicians’ promises that litter the campaign trail boggle the mind not for the brilliant oration with which they are made but for being embarrassingly absurd.

“Large family”: three kids, counting in the yet-to-be-born

Here’s an outstanding sample among the countless:

Near the very top of the list of wannabes of one political party, an aspirant to a seat in the Congress of Deputies solemnly swore that if elected fetuses will be considered full members of the family. This makes it possible for the family concerned to claim economic benefits for qualifying as familia numerosa (large family). In Spain that would be a family with a minimum of three kids.

For instance, if parents already have two offspring and the wife is pregnant again, the fetus she’s carrying, as is, will be counted as child number three.

Whereupon a reporter asked: “What if sadly the fetus doesn’t get born? Will the family have to give back the benefit payments it has already collected?”

“I haven’t quite figured out the answer to that yet,” replied the candidate, serene and unfazed.

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Images
Featured image/Bill Sutton, CC BY2.0
“Large family”/eommina, Unsplash