Another eurozone government change likely as Spaniards vote
Source: Agencies |
November 21, 2011, Monday
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YESTERDAY'S national election in Spain was expected to make it the third eurozone country in as many weeks to throw out its governing party in an attempt to dig itself out of an economic crisis.
Spanish opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party were expected to win parliamentary control in a landslide, even though Rajoy has said little about what his party would do to fight high unemployment, painful austerity measures and huge debt.
A win for Rajoy, 56, would bring the conservatives back to power after nearly eight years of rule by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
On social policy, he put a patently liberal stamp on traditionally Catholic Spain by legalizing gay marriage and ushering in other northern European-style reforms. But on economic matters Zapatero has been widely criticized as first denying, then reacting late and erratically, to Spain's crisis, including the implosion of a real estate bubble that had fueled Spanish growth robustly for nearly a decade.
Unlike Italy and Greece, which have replaced their elected governments with bureaucrats, Spain will stick with an elected government.
"I am ready for whatever Spaniards may want," said Rajoy after casting his vote yesterday.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Rajoy's Socialist opponent, urged supporters not to let a low turnout reduce the party's chances. "The next four years are going to be very important for our future," he said. "The big decisions that have to be taken must be made by citizens, so it is important to vote."
Poor weather was causing some polling stations to open late, and one in the country's south had to be relocated because of flooding. The Interior Ministry said voter turnout appeared to running lower than that for Spain's 2008 election.
Voters are electing 350 members of parliament and 208 senators.
In Barcelona, Spaniard Juan Sanchez in Barcelona said he voted for Rajoy's party because when it was last in power, from 1996 to 2004, unemployment fell, whereas under the Socialists it had risen to 5 million.
In Madrid, civil servant Diana Bachiller said: "I voted for the Socialists because I am sure that if the Popular Party comes to power it is going to begin to cut everything."
Spain has an unemployment rate of 21.5 percent and a bloated budget deficit. The country's key borrowing rate rose above 6 percent for five consecutive days last week, just one percentage point below a rate considered unsustainable.
Spanish opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party were expected to win parliamentary control in a landslide, even though Rajoy has said little about what his party would do to fight high unemployment, painful austerity measures and huge debt.
A win for Rajoy, 56, would bring the conservatives back to power after nearly eight years of rule by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
On social policy, he put a patently liberal stamp on traditionally Catholic Spain by legalizing gay marriage and ushering in other northern European-style reforms. But on economic matters Zapatero has been widely criticized as first denying, then reacting late and erratically, to Spain's crisis, including the implosion of a real estate bubble that had fueled Spanish growth robustly for nearly a decade.
Unlike Italy and Greece, which have replaced their elected governments with bureaucrats, Spain will stick with an elected government.
"I am ready for whatever Spaniards may want," said Rajoy after casting his vote yesterday.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Rajoy's Socialist opponent, urged supporters not to let a low turnout reduce the party's chances. "The next four years are going to be very important for our future," he said. "The big decisions that have to be taken must be made by citizens, so it is important to vote."
Poor weather was causing some polling stations to open late, and one in the country's south had to be relocated because of flooding. The Interior Ministry said voter turnout appeared to running lower than that for Spain's 2008 election.
Voters are electing 350 members of parliament and 208 senators.
In Barcelona, Spaniard Juan Sanchez in Barcelona said he voted for Rajoy's party because when it was last in power, from 1996 to 2004, unemployment fell, whereas under the Socialists it had risen to 5 million.
In Madrid, civil servant Diana Bachiller said: "I voted for the Socialists because I am sure that if the Popular Party comes to power it is going to begin to cut everything."
Spain has an unemployment rate of 21.5 percent and a bloated budget deficit. The country's key borrowing rate rose above 6 percent for five consecutive days last week, just one percentage point below a rate considered unsustainable.
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