In a stunning upset triggered by last week’s terrorist attacks, Spanish voters on Sunday dumped the nation’s ruling party, which has been a staunch supporter of the United States in the war in Iraq.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, the opposition Socialist Party had won 42.6 percent against 37.7 percent for Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s Popular Party.
Voters appeared to respond to suspicions–unconfirmed so far–that Al Qaeda was behind Thursday’s bombings of four commuter trains in Madrid. And many believed Spain’s policy on Iraq had made the country a target for terrorism.
“The Popular Party took us to war and now you see the consequences,” said Yolanda Gutierrez, 29, a photographer who supported the Socialists. “The people didn’t want this war. They demonstrated against it, but the Popular Party ignored us.”
A new government will be formed by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, 43, a lawyer who declared that his “immediate priority is to beat all forms of terrorism.” The Socialists have called for Spanish troops to leave Iraq unless they are operating under a United Nations mandate.
Aznar, who is stepping down after two four-year terms, had hoped to pass power to Mariano Rajoy, a veteran Cabinet minister, but the tumultuous events since Thursday turned Spain’s political landscape upside down.
Before Thursday’s bomb attacks, polls showed the Popular Party with a lead of 3 to 5 percentage points. But the attack, which left 200 dead and sent this nation of 40 million into a paroxysm of grief, appears to have loosed a tidal wave of anger and suspicion against the government.
At this point, those behind the Madrid bombings remain publicly unknown. The government initially pointed the finger at ETA, the Basque separatist organization that has waged a 35-year terrorist campaign against the state. But shortly after midnight Sunday, hours before the polls opened, the government announced that it had found a videotape in which Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
On Saturday, the government arrested three Moroccans and two Indians who were traced to a mobile phone that was intended to trigger the detonator in a homemade bomb on one of the trains. The bomb, which failed to explode, was concealed in a backpack similar to ones that held bombs that did go off.
Ahead of Sunday’s vote, most political analysts said that if the attacks were seen to be the handiwork of ETA, it would give an electoral boost to the Popular Party, which has taken a strong stand against the separatists.
The Al Qaeda factor
At the same time, they said that if Al Qaeda had indeed brought its war against the West to Spain’s shores, it could have painful consequences for Aznar’s party, which defied public opinion in aligning Spain with the U.S. in the Iraq war.
Although the authenticity of the Al Qaeda tape remains in doubt and the evidence gathered thus far is inconclusive, the government’s handling of the matter aroused suspicions and seemed to reignite misgivings over Spain’s involvement in Iraq.
“It’s not a question of who I voted for. I voted against the Popular Party,” said Manuela Barrero, 29, an art historian in Madrid who said the government had made Spain a target for Islamic radicals.
In a development Sunday, The Associated Press reported that one of the three arrested Moroccans was a follower of an Al Qaeda member jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.
According to the AP, a Sept. 17, 2003, indictment describes Jamal Zougam, 30, as a “follower” of Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the alleged leader of Spain’s Al Qaeda cell. Yarkas, whose alias is Abu Dahdah, is in Spanish custody. Zougam was not charged at the time.
Spain’s El Pais newspaper, citing the Interior Ministry, reported that all three Moroccans arrested Saturday have links to Yarkas. The front pages of the morning newspapers were hard for voters to ignore as they made their way to the polling stations. “All Signs Point to Al Qaeda,” declared El Pais’ headline.
Not `for,’ but `against’
More Top Picks Camping Chairs
In Spain’s Basque region, where many residents are divided on the question of separation from the central government, voters seemed united Sunday at the polls: Of several interviewed, all said they voted against the Popular Party.
“The people are petrified. Their faces and expressions show it,” said Belen Naturana, 52, as she exited a polling place at a public school after voting for the Socialists. “How many innocent people have died in Iraq? Rajoy and PP–I hope they will lose. We don’t have any dignity as a people.”
Others took a different view. Before the bombings, Monica Montealgre, 34, a human-resources manager for a large multinational business, was planning to skip the election and go skiing. Instead, on Sunday, she found herself at the wake of a co-worker killed in the attack. Afterward, Montealgre cast her ballot for the Popular Party.
“What upsets me is the way the opposition has used this to attack the government,” she said. “Now is the moment we should be standing together, like in New York after Sept. 11.”
On Friday, in a remarkable display of national solidarity, more than 11 million Spaniards marched in cities and towns across the country to demand an end to terrorism. Not unexpectedly, turnout for Sunday’s vote was unusually large: 62 percent, compared with 55 percent in the last national election.
The Socialists will have 164 seats in Spain’s 350-member parliament, 12 short of the number needed for a majority government, meaning Zapatero will have to seek coalition partners.
During his election campaign, Zapatero pledged to withdraw Spain’s 1,300 soldiers from Iraq if the UN is not in charge by the end of June. Current plans call for the U.S. to turn over sovereignty to Iraqis at that time, but a UN role is unclear. The composition of the interim Iraqi government is undetermined, and the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council is likely to have a strong influence on that interim leadership.
Although the Spanish contingent in Iraq is insignificant militarily, its withdrawal would be a political blow to the Bush administration and its claims of broad international support for its war on terrorism.