Change of political direction for Spain:

Angry Spanish voters oust the conservative Popular Party and vote in the Socialist Party
A larger than expected 77{a9f0d31f6175b3e4775e11a66c07db268fb74408d6095f6b46eeec420c0e9f62} of the electorate turned out to vote in the wake of last Thursday’s attacks. Spain’s ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office.

What angered many voters was that the conservative government had insisted that its prime suspect in Thursday’s rail bombings was the armed Basque separatist group ETA, even as evidence mounted of an Islamic link in the bombings. The government was accused of withholding information on the investigation and trying to manipulate international press reports to save the election.

Other voters were angry at Aznar, accusing him of making Spain a target for Islamic extremists because of his support for the Iraq war, despite the opposition of most Spaniards. Aznar sent 1,300 Spanish troops to Iraq after the conflict and 11 have died. “I wasn’t planning to vote, but I am here today because the Popular Party is responsible for murders here and in Iraq,” said Ernesto Sanchez-Gey, 48, who voted in Barcelona.

Zapatero to withdraw Iraq troops
The new Socialist Prime Minister told Spanish radio that no decision would be taken without wide political consultation, but the soldiers would be pulled out if there was no change in Iraq by the 30 June deadline for transfer of sovereignty. He said “Many times I have said that the war in Iraq was a disaster. The occupation continues to be a disaster”, adding “Wars such as those which have occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate.”

While Mr Zapatero said his first priority was to tackle terrorism “in all its forms”, he is thought likely to do it in a very different way than the outgoing government.