Spain Socialists have mixed night in regional polls

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Source: Reuters

Sun Mar 1, 2009 5:07pm EST

By Martin Roberts

MADRID, March 1 (Reuters) - Spain's governing Socialists were set to lose power in one region but possibly gain it in another on Sunday, in their first electoral test since the economy sank into recession last year and unemployment soared.

With 98 percent of ballots counted in northwesterly Galicia, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's party was on course to cede control back to the conservative main opposition party, the Popular Party, after heading a government there for four years.

But in the Basque Country, it appeared to have secured a chance of ousting the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which has been in power there since 1980.

With 99.9 percent of ballots tallied, the PNV had the biggest share of the vote, but Zapatero's party appeared set to increase its share to 25 seats from the 18 it won in 2005 ...

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL1712886

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Zapatero’s Socialists Lose Galicia, Basques Reject Nationalism
... In Galicia, with 94 percent of votes counted, the Socialists’ vote slipped to 30 percent from 33 percent in 2005, allowing the People’s Party to reclaim power with 39 out of 75 seats. The Socialists won 25 of 75 seats in the Basque parliament while the PP claimed 13, with almost all votes counted, according to El Mundo newspaper’s Web site. The Galicia result is a set back for Zapatero just a year after his party was re-elected nationally, as Spain faces its worst recession in half a century and the highest unemployment rate in Europe ... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aQ648U.6l1As&refer=europe

Narrow election loss for Basque moderates
By Victor Mallet in Madrid
Published: March 2 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 2 2009 02:00
Basque nationalists ap-peared yesterday to have lost power in Spain's Basque country for the first time since the current democratic system was introduced three decades ago. The predicted loss - by a margin of one seat - leaves the way clear for an awkward alliance of Spain's ruling Socialists, the rightwing opposition Popular party (PP) and a minor partner to take control of the region. The moderate Basque Nationalist party of Juan José Ibarretxe increased its representation in the Basque parliament in yesterday's elections and remains the largest single party, with 30 of the 75 seats. But an improved performance by the Socialists gave them the chance to form a coalition. A combination of the Socialists and the PP - bitter rivals at the national level - is likely to reverse Mr Ibarretxe's drive to increase the Basque country's already considerable autonomy ... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/272b60fe-06cc-11de-ab0f-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1


Eta shadow over Spanish elections as PM faces first poll test of recession
Molotov cocktail attacks on day 'disenfranchised' Basques vote in regional elections
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 1 March 2009 17.40 GMT
Spain's socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, today faced his first serious electoral test yesterday since the global economic crisis exploded, as almost 10% of the country's voters headed for the polls in regional elections. With the recession biting hard and Spain holding the European record for unemployment at 14%, there was speculation that many socialist supporters would stay at home. Voters in the Basque country and in Galicia may deliver major changes to their powerful regional governments, with opinion polls putting rival parties neck-and-neck. In the northern Basque country, election day was greeted by molotov cocktail attacks on a court and several banks in the town of Amorebieta. The attacks, which caused minor damage, were a reminder of the terrorism still practised by the Basque separatist group Eta ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/01/spanish-elections