Irish Examiner view: Spanish elections could change the shape of European politics 

Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez called the snap election as a tactical gamble to face down right-wing parties

Spanish premier Pedro Sánchez has taken a major gamble by deciding to take on the right and the far right in next Sunday's election. Picture: Virginia Mayo/AP

Aside from the infamous ‘Blueshirts’ of the 1930s, Ireland’s electorate has never really flirted with far-right politics and, even then, the Army Comrades Association, founded in 1932, which gestated into the National Guard under General Eoin O’Duffy in 1933, was a short-lived dalliance with fascism.

Having been banned by de Valera in 1934, the National Guard morphed into Fine Gael, along with Cumann na nGaedheal and the National Centre Party, and O’Duffy was elected its first president, although after a disastrous local election campaign that year, he lost much of his influence in the organisation.