Spain expected to dump government

Spain is today holding a national election – and it is expected to become 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 are expected to win control of parliament in a landslide, even though Mr Rajoy has said little about what his party would do to fight sky-high unemployment, painful austerity measures and piles of debt.

A win for Mr 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 legalising gay marriage and ushering in other northern European-style reforms.

But on economic matters, Mr Zapatero has been widely criticised as first denying, then reacting late and erratically, to Spain’s slice of the global financial crisis and the implosion of a real estate bubble that had fuelled Spanish GDP growth robustly for nearly a decade.

Unlike Italy and Greece, which recently replaced their elected governments with bureaucrats in an attempt to better cope with the euro crisis, Spain will stick with an elected government.

“I am ready for whatever Spaniards may want,” said Mr Rajoy after casting his own vote.

Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Mr Rajoy’s Socialist opponent, urged his supporters not to let a low turnout reduce his 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’s important to vote,” he said.

But poor weather was causing some polling stations to open late, and a station in the country’s south had to be relocated because of flooding, election office spokesman Felix Monteira said. The Interior Ministry also said voter turnout appeared to be running lower than during Spain’s 2008 election.

Voters are casting ballots to elect 350 members of parliament and 208 senators.

In Barcelona, Spaniard Juan Sanchez said he had voted for Mr Rajoy’s party because when it was last in power from 1996 to 2004 unemployment had fallen, whereas under the Socialists that figure had risen to five million.

“Hundreds of small and big businesses have closed down,” Mr Sanchez said.

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.”

Almost two years of recession have left Spain with a eurozone high 21.5% unemployment rate and a bloated budget deficit. The country’s key borrowing rate rose above 6% for five consecutive days last week, just one per cent below a rate considered unsustainable.