News, March 2004

Election Special - Socialists win to take power from PP.

14th March. With reliable results (97%) a marginal victory has been won by the Socialist PSOE in the general election. This leaves the small parties to get involved in stabilising the new parliament. This victory of the PSOE is against all the prospects prior to the 3/11 bombings.

Turnout was higher than in the 2000 election. If the exact voting proportions are confirmed, PSOE has won 163 seats, the governing Partido Popular 148 and the remainder of parties 39. The PSOE got one million votes more than the PP. The seats obtained by the left wing parties IU and ERC should be sufficient to support a socialist-let-wing majority. The smaller parties´ seats are: CiU, 11; ERC, 8; PNV, 7; IU, 5; CC, 3; BNG, 2; CHA, 1; EA, 1; and Na-Bai, 1.

Winning presidential candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has already spoken with the king, Juan Carlos.

The ministers Acebes (Interior) and Zaplana (government spokesman) have recently appeared and conceded victory to the Socialists.

In the Senate election, with the count at 23.35 still only just above 46%, the largest party would appear to be the PP, but without an overall majority (101 out of 206 seats). This will require most of the smaller parties´ votes to enable PSOE to maintain a balance of power overall.

In Andalucia, where regional assembly elections have also taken place, the Socialists appear to have also achieved a majority.

Update 18th March.

Scandal has now broken out on news that the Partido Popular attempted a last minute postponement of the elections when the news of Al Quaida involvement in the bombings suggested a mood swing against it in the election. Certainly, the home minister Acebes desperately attempted to keep the ETA option open far beyond the time when it became clear they had not been involved. This news discredits the PP at a time when it needs encouragement and presupposes a longer time in the shadows before the population returns its trust to them.

More in the Special Reports: Election http://www.prayforspain.com/comment/index6.html and 3/11: coment:16