Zapatero wins Spanish elections

11 March 2008

The PSOE, the Socialist party of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won the Spanish elections on 9 March. Zapatero will have another term in office. The PSOE won 43.72 per cent of the votes, the right-wing conservative Popular Party became second with 40.13 per cent of the votes. This brings the PSOE up to 169 of the total 350 seats in parliament . The Socialists did not get a parliamentary majority, which means they will have to govern in coalition with Spain's smaller parties, just as before in 2004. The party lacked only seven seats for an absolute majority.

The turn-out of the elections was high with 75.33 per cent. As predicted, a high turnout benefited the socialists.

The Spanish election was an exciting competition between the two biggest parties, the socialist PSOE and the conservative PP. The campaign was dominated by concerns about Spain's economy, which is dealing with higher unemployment and inflation after more than a decade of economic growth. Apart from that, the campaign also included the fight against ETA.

The terrorist group ETA killed a former socialist councillor in the Basque town of Mondragón two days before the elections, on Friday 7 March. This might have affected citizen's voting behavior. On the one hand, this could have resulted in empathy for Zapatero. While at the other hand, the conclusion could be that Zapatero's method of negotiating with the ETA has had no effect. A vote for Rajoy and his harder line could have been the result.

Zapatero promised during the campaign that he would consolidate his progressive agenda, promising the creation of 2 million new jobs, the increase of the minimum wage and extended maternity leave. The party also intends to focus on climate change actions and the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation.

Over the past four years, Zapatero pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq and introduced progressive social reforms such as same-sex marriage, making it easier to divorce, amnesty for undocumented workers and a package of gender equality laws.

Samira Mellabi, IPP