SPAIN: SPANIARDS PREPARE TO VOTE IN COUNTRY'S GENERAL ELECTION THREE DAYS AFTER DEADLY BOMB ATTACKS IN MADRID LEFT 200 DEAD

Record ID: 328734

  • Title: SPAIN: SPANIARDS PREPARE TO VOTE IN COUNTRY'S GENERAL ELECTION THREE DAYS AFTER DEADLY BOMB ATTACKS IN MADRID LEFT 200 DEAD
  • Date: 13th March 2004
  • Summary: (W7) MADRID, SPAIN, (MARCH 13, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WS/CU: EXTERIOR POLLING STATION (2 SHOTS) 0.08 2. ELECTION OFFICIAL SETTING UP BALLOTS (3 SHOTS) 0.28 3. POPULAR PARTY BALLOTS 0.32 4. CLOSE UP OF SOCIALIST PARTY BALLOT 0.36 5. MORE OF ELECTION OFFICIAL SORTING OUT BALLOTS (3 SHOTS) (3 SHOTS) 0.50 6. VARIOUS OF BALLOT BOXES (4 SHOTS) 1.12 7. PAN: BALLOT PAPERS IN ROOM 1.19 8. VARIOUS: ELECTION OFFICIALS SETTING UP BALLOT BOOTHS (6 SHOTS) 1.48 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MADRID, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Reuters ID: LVAF47DENQQ0IB6ZDFO40XAOWWFF
  • Story Text: Spaniards prepare to vote in Sundays election.


    Spaniards go to the polls on Sunday (March 14, 2004)
    after three days of mourning after deadly bombs attacks in
    the Spanish capital.

    After eight years of Popular Party rule in a general
    election dominated by Spain's robust economic performance
    and increasing demands for autonomy from its powerful
    regions.

    Spain's political strongman Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
    stands down at the vote, having steered Europe's fifth
    largest economy to prosperity but angered many countrymen
    with his aggressive style and staunch support for the
    U.S.-led Iraq war.

    Opinion polls favour his moderate, hand-picked
    successor Mariano Rajoy to see off a challenge from
    Socialist rival Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, thanks
    largely to the robust economy.

    If polls prove accurate, the only question on March 14
    will be whether the Popular Party (PP) wins a second
    consecutive absolute majority or if it will be forced to
    cut a deal with regional parties to return to office.

    Armed Basque separatist group ETA has secured a
    central role in the campaign, despite a police crackdown
    which the government says has brought the group to the
    brink of collapse.

    A foiled plot to detonate 536 kilos (1,180 pounds) of
    explosives in Madrid last month followed an ETA truce in
    the northeast region of Catalonia, Spain's economic
    powerhouse where nationalists also seek independence.

    The truce followed the disclosure the Socialists
    coalition partner in the Catalan regional government held
    secret talks with ETA, a revelation the PP has used to
    attack the Socialists for supposedly being soft on the
    armed group which has killed some 850 people since 1968 in
    a campaign for a Basque homeland.


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