Fresh from a second consecutive election victory, Spain's Socialists began to prepare a public works programme on Monday to reinvigorate a flagging economy. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who boosted his tally of parliamentary seats but once again fell short of an absolute majority, said he would approach smaller parties to forge alliances.
"There are a number of parties we can speak to," an exhausted-looking Zapatero told a news conference. "Obviously we're going to be talking to all of them," he said, without specifying whether he would be seeking a permanent alliance or simply continue as he has over the past four years, with different deals for different legislation.
The Socialists gained five seats for a total of 169 in the 350-seat parliament. The opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) also gained five seats to reach 153, while smaller left-wing parties and some nationalist parties lost ground. Sunday's turnout was a high 75 percent, in an election overshadowed by the assassination of a former Socialist councillor in the Basque Country, blamed on ETA rebels. Participation almost matched that of 2004, when voters galvanised by the PP government's mishandling of an Islamist attack on Madrid trains handed the Socialists a surprise win.
Zapatero on Sunday promised to govern for the poor, women and the young, continuing the progressive note of his first term, during which he legalised gay marriage and made divorce easier in the once deeply Roman Catholic country.
But with Spain's long economic boom slowing sharply since the global credit crunch bit late last year, his first priority will be to put the lid on unemployment, which rose by 50,000 in February alone to 2.3 million. "We have the confidence that comes from a budget surplus," said Labour Minister Jesus Caldera, explaining that the government's strong fiscal position meant it would have little difficulty funding public works programmes.