Spain’s ruling Socialists on Monday vowed to stage a dramatic comeback for next year’s general elections after being crushed in local polls by voters angered over soaring unemployment.
The party of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, in power since 2004, suffered an unprecedented mauling in the regional and municipal elections on Sunday.
With all ballots counted, the Socialists had captured just under 28 percent of the total compared with 37 percent for the opposition right-wing Popular Party (PP).
Support for the government collapsed in the face of the beleaguered economy, the highest unemployment rate in the developed world and massive week-long street protests, which continued on Monday.
The rout was a grim omen for the party ahead of general elections due by next March, when the conservative Popular Party of Mariano Rajoy is widely expected to romp into office after eight years in opposition.
“The tsunami of May 22 drowns the Socialists,” said the center-left El Pais, Spain’s leading daily.
“The PP has more regional power than ever,” the paper added. “The triumph of the party of Mariano Rajoy was indisputable, overwhelming, as he had hoped for to open the way to the prime minister’s office.”
Rajoy said his party was ready to face a general election and he repeated his call that Zapatero call an early vote, saying the government “was not remotely qualified to generate confidence and dispel doubts” over the economy.
“Spaniards have said clearly that the PP is the alternative to what at the moment is the government of Spain,” Rajoy said.
Zapatero refused to contemplate calling snap elections, vowing to pursue reforms to fix the economy and expand employment until the end of his mandate, due in March next year.
The party’s deputy secretary-general, Jose Blanco, sought to rally the party.
“Now is not the time to founder, but to look to the future,” he told a news conference on Monday following a party meeting to analyze the results. “It’s true that many citizens denied us their support yesterday, but we know that the vast majority want us to give them reasons to trust us again in the next election.”
“The government will work to achieve economic recovery and the party will work to regain public confidence and win the next general election,” he said.
He also announced that the Socialists on Saturday would launch the process of finding a new party leader to replace Zapatero, who said last month he would not seek a third mandate.
More than 66 percent of the 34 million eligible voters cast ballots to choose 8,116 mayors, 68,400 town councilors and 824 members of regional parliaments for 13 of the 17 semi-autonomous regions.
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