Spanish Socialists Get Trounced

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Front Page Magazine:

In a country beset by some of Europe’s worst economic woes, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has suffered its worst defeat since the country returned to democracy in 1978. The Popular Party (PP), led by Mariano Rajoy, had 34 percent of the municipal vote across the country,10 points higher than the Socialists, and they carried almost all of the 13 out of 17 of regions in play. The vote followed a week in which thousands of Spaniards engaged in mass protests nationwide, reflecting their anger at the failed economic policies of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government.

Spain’s more than 8000 municipalities were the most telling indication of how large this defeat was. In 2007, the PP had a victory margin of about 150,000 votes in cities and town across the nation. This time, their margin was around two million. These victories swept through the former Socialist-held town halls of Barcelona and Seville, and the region of Castilla-La Mancha, where the Socialists have never lost their grip on power.

Zapatero accepted the reality of the verdict in a nation hammered by three years of economic stagnation, which has led to an unemployment rate of 21%, the highest in the European Union. For Spaniards 18-25, the rate stands at a staggering 45%. ”These results have a clear relation to the economic crisis we’ve suffered for three years… I know that many Spaniards are going through great difficulties and fear for their jobs and future well being,” said Zapatero at a news conference. Yet the Prime Minister ruled out early elections, saying he intends to press ahead with economy-strengthening measures with help from his existing small-party alliances in parliament, where the Socialists still maintain the largest minority,”to carry out the economic reforms the country needs.”