(03/01/09) -

Spain’s Ruling Socialists Cling to First Place

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Spain’s governing Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) is only slightly more popular than its main challenger, according to a poll by GESOP published in El Periódico de Catalunya. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the party headed by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the next legislative election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Spain’s governing Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) is only slightly more popular than its main challenger, according to a poll by GESOP published in El Periódico de Catalunya. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the party headed by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the next legislative election.

The opposition Popular Party (PP) is second with 38.5 per cent, followed by the coalition of United Left (IU) and Initiative for Catalonia-Greens (IC-V) with 4.8 per cent, and Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) with 4.4 per cent. Support is lower for Catalonia’s Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

Zapatero was sworn in as president of the government in April 2004, following his party’s victory in the legislative ballot. The conservative PP had administered the government under José María Aznar since 1996. Mariano Rajoy took over as PP leader in August 2003.

In March 2008, Spain held a general election. The PSOE secured a new term in office with 43.36 per cent of the vote and 169 seats in the lower house, followed by the PP with 39.85 per cent and 153 mandates. Zapatero retained his post as head of government.

On Feb. 23, Spanish justice minister Mariano Fernández Bermejo was forced to resign after the media revealed pictures of him on a hunting trip with a judge—Baltasar Garzón—who was leading an investigation into the main opposition party’s alleged wrongdoing.

PP members led a two-week campaign to demand Fernández Bermejo’ s resignation, saying that his proximity to Garzón raised suspicions about the impartiality of the investigation. Thirty-seven PP members have been charged in relation to the corruption allegations so far.

Fernández Bermejo tendered his resignation, saying, "I can’t tolerate the use being made of this against those of us who are working for the ideals of the Socialist government."

Polling Data

What party would you support in the next general election?

Source: GESOP / El Periódico de Catalunya
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,200 Spanish adults, conducted on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, 2009. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.