Ruling Socialists Suffer Big Loss In Spain Center-Right Popular Party Propelled To Victory In Regional, Local Elections
The center-right Popular Party scored a resounding victory Sunday over the ruling Socialists in regional and local voting seen as a harbinger of general elections.
Popular Party leader Jose Maria Aznar said his party’s triumph in 10 of 13 regions and 42 of 52 provincial capitals is a sign that conservatives will oust the Socialists in general elections expected next year.
“We have reached the next-to-last step. The next will be the government of Spain,” Aznar told thousands of flag-waving supporters outside his party’s Madrid headquarters.
In elections for more than 8,000 city councils, the Popular Party won an average of 35 percent of the vote, according to official returns with 93 percent of the vote tallied. That would be a gain of almost 10 points since the last municipal elections in 1991.
The Socialists won 30.9 percent compared with 38.4 percent in 1991, while the communist-led United Left won 11.8 percent, up from 8.5 percent.
The Popular Party strengthened its control of Madrid, the nation’s capital and largest city, while the Socialists maintained control of Barcelona, the country’s second-largest city.
The Popular Party won the most votes in seven of the country’s 10 largest cities, and with more than 90 percent of votes counted, it had drawn even with the Socialists in Seville. The Basque Nationalist Party kept control of the northern city of Bilbao.
The Socialists currently hold power in 13 of Spain’s 20 largest cities, compared with three for the Popular Party.
In races for regional governments, the Popular Party led in 10 of 13 regions with 85 percent of votes counted. In 1991, it won only two. The Socialists were leading in Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha, while a regional party won control in the Canary Islands.
The Socialists currently control seven of the 13 regions and govern another in coalition. Four of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions were not electing parliaments Sunday.
While acknowledging a setback, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez stressed that the Socialist Party did better Sunday than in last year’s voting for the European Parliament, when the Popular Party defeated the Socialists by a margin of 10 percentage points.
“The Popular Party has won in general terms, and we who know how to win and lose congratulate them on their success,” Gonzalez told supporters. But he said the Socialists still intend to win the general election.
The Socialists have held control of the national government since 1982. Since losing the majority in June 1993, Gonzalez’s government has relied on the support of a small party from the northeastern Catalunya region.
Support for the Socialists has weakened after a succession of corruption scandals involving politicians and appointees from the party. This year, several former senior law enforcement officials were charged with having ties to death squads that killed Basque separatists in the 1980s.