Landslide victory for Spain’s opposition

SPAIN’S opposition conservatives swept into power and into the hot seat yesterday as voters enduring a 21.5% jobless rate and a stagnant economy dumped the Socialists — the third time in as many weeks that Europe’s debt crisis has claimed a government.

Awaiting words from victorious party leader and future prime minister Mariano Rajoy, thousands of jubilant, flag-waving supporters gathered outside Popular Party headquarters in downtown Madrid as pop music boomed over loudspeakers.

With 90% of the votes from the election counted, the centre-right Popular Party won 186 seats compared to 154 in the last legislature, while the Socialists plummeted from 169 to 110, their worst performance ever.

The PP thus won an absolute majority and resounding mandate from a troubled electorate. It needed 176 seats for such a majority.

One supporter, David Cordero, said he was happy with the prospect of change that might create jobs and protect social services such as state-paid health care and education.

“This is what this country needs right now,” he said.

The conservatives took 44% of the votes and the Socialists 29% according to official results.

The numbers suggest Spanish voters have shifted clearly to the Right as they confront their worst economic crisis in decades and choose new leaders to pull them out of it.

The country is also at the forefront of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, with the Spanish government’s borrowing costs rising last week to levels near those at which other eurozone countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to request bailouts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

As Rajoy, 56, begins forming Spain’s next government, all eyes will be on whether the grey-bearded, bespectacled leader will finally unveil a clear political vision or continue to dodge efforts to pin him down.

In his victory speech, Rajoy said he has no miraculous solutions to jolt Spain out of its economic misery, but promised that the country “will stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution”.

“When you do things right, you get results,” said Rajoy.

Many see him as a perfect caricature of his native Galicia region. The people of the misty and rainy northwestern region are legendary for pokerfaced obscurity. According to a Spanish saying, when you meet a Galician on the stairs you can never tell if he’s going up or down.

“He is a Galician. They say things but you have to read between the lines,” said Rodrigo Herrero, 48, a villa caretaker.

“He’s not spontaneous or extroverted like other politicians,” added Herrero. “He lacks that friendliness and touch of charm.”