Zapatero Wins Four More Years

The Spanish electorate had every reason to kick the ruling PSOE out of office. Terrible economic figures and real fears of recession to add to debt and mortgage defaults were, one might have thought, sufficient to effect a change in government in what was meant to be a close-call election. It has turned out not to be. The Spanish people have spoken, and they have rejected the return of the Partido Popular and its rather dour leader, Mariano Rajoy.

One can look for reasons why this has happened. Perhaps the electorate has given Zapatero the benefit of the doubt on the economy; and to a large extent they might be right to do so. But perhaps there is another dimension here. Rajoy and the PP have alluded to old-time Spain. Rajoy himself has used the faintly ludicrous "vision"of a young girl "Victoria Esperanza" (victory and hope) as a last-minute electoral motif . It hasn't necessarily played well with those who accuse the PP of harbouring certain Francoist sentiments of the homeland.

The result may be quite close, the PSOE may have to rely on its coalition such as the left in Catalonia, but the win is still Zapatero's and the PSOE's. The economy has not, after all, been the decisive issue, so perhaps one has to look deeper. The past four years of the PSOE have seen an increased liberalism in Spanish social policies - gender equality, easier divorces, gay rights. This has created some tension with the Church, but the Church plays a less important role in Spanish life than it did; less than 20% of the population regularly attends church on Sundays. The PSOE has not exactly courted the Church's support; it has been willing to go its own way, leaving the PP to be identified with an older Spain of church and conservatism. And perhaps that is it. Spain has become a younger country, but at the same time it has grown up.

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