- Title: SPAIN: CONSERVATIVE PM JOSE MARIA AZNAR SWEEPS TO VICTORY IN GENERAL ELECTION
- Date: 12th March 2000
- Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (MARCH 12, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE: POLLING STATION 0.06 2. SV: MEMBERS OF ELECTORAL COMMISION SEALING A BALLOT BOX (2 SHOTS) 0.16 3. SV: COUNTING BALLOTS BEGINS (7 SHOTS) 0.49 4. WIDE: POPULAR PARTY SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE PARTY HEADQUARTERS CELEBRATING AND WAVING FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 1.01 5. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CHEERING AND DANCING (2 SHOTS) 1.07 6. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (SPANISH) UNINDENTIFIED POPULAR PARTY SUPPORTER (FEMALE) SAYING: "We are so happy about it, today is our day, we all hope for an outright majority." 1.19 7. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (SPANISH) UNINDENTIFIED POPULAR PARTY SUPPORTER (MALE) SAYING: "We have been waiting for this moment for such a long time. Now we got outright majority, we are all very happy." 1.26 8. VARIOUS: MORE PEOPLE CHEERING (3 SHOTS) 1.42 9. WIDE: SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE MARIA AZNAR AND WIFE ANA BOTELLA ON STAGE/CROWD (5 SHOTS) 2.08 10. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE MARIA AZNAR SAYING "The Spanish people have renewed and greatly broadened their trust in us. I want to thank everyone who has participated in democracy today." 2.24 11. VARIOUS: MORE OF POPULAR PARTY SUPPORTERS CELEBRATING/ AZNAR WAVING (2 SHOTS) 2.33 MADRID, SPAIN (MARCH 12, 2000) (POOL) 12. SLV: AZNAR AND WIFE ANA BOTELLA ARRIVING HOTEL WHERE POPULAR PARTY CELEBRATING (2 SHOTS) 2.40 13. SV/WIDE/SV: VARIOUS OF AZNAR GREETING SUPPORTERS (4 SHOTS) 3.00 MADRID, SPAIN (MARCH 12, 2000) (REUTERS) 14. EXT: EXTERIORS OF SOCIALIST PARTY HEADQUARTERS (2 SHOTS) 3.08 15. C/A: MEDIA OUTSIDE THE HEADQUARTERS 3.14 16. ITN: INTERIORS OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY HEADQUARTERS, VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS WATCHING RESULTS (3 SHOTS) 3.32 17. BV: WIDE OF SOCIALIST LEADER JOAQUIN ALMUNIA AT A MEDIA CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 3.38 18. MV/SV: (SOUNDBITE) (SPANISH) ALMUNIA SAYING "With these results, [we have] to face up the renewal of the Socialist Party, it requires a new and more focused direction than the one we have managed to have up to now. From this moment I would like to present my irrevocable resignation as head of the Socialist Party." (2 SHOTS) 3.59 19. VARIOUS OF ALMUNIA SHAKING HANDS WITH PEOPLE, SUPPORTERS CLAPPING/ALMUNIA (3 SHOTS) 4.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th March 2000 13:00
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- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Reuters ID: LVA7KVIO6K8XI3XYTZ226WKFEYX6
- Story Text:Conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has swept
to victory in Spain's general election, crushing the
opposition Socialists to capture an outright majority in
parliament for the first time.
Doing better than even the most favourable opinion
polls predicted, Aznar's centre-right Popular Party claimed
183 seats in the polls held on Sunday (March 12), seven more
than needed to govern alone in the 350-seat legislature.
Thousands of Aznar supporters massed outside party
headquarters, waving flags and chanting: "Champions,
champions".
"The Spanish people have renewed and greatly broadened
their trust in us," a smiling Aznar told jubilant party
members.
Aznar's win marked the first time conservatives have taken
full control of parliament since Spain returned to democracy
after the death of right-wing dictator Francisco Franco in
1975.
Socialist candidate Joaquin Almunia, who had hoped to
return his party to government after their narrow loss to
Aznar in 1996, conceded defeat and announced his immediate
resignation.
Aznar, who ran on a record of robust economic growth,
returns to power with a strengthened hand now that he no
longer has to rely on the backing of regional nationalists who
propped up his minority government during his first term.
The 47-year-old former tax inspector heads one of the few
right-leaning governments in the European Union, where the
pendulum has swung decidedly to the left in recent years.
With the vote count nearly complete, the centre-right
Popular was seen sharply improving on its current 156 seats
while receiving 44.7 percent of the vote, about six percent
better than the last election.
The Socialists fell to 125 seats, a loss of 16 seats,
while polling 10 percent less of the popular vote than Aznar's
party.The United Left saw its representation plummet from 21
seats to eight.
Almunia, 51, had hoped to lure back hundreds of thousands
of voters who deserted the Socialist party after it was rocked
by corruption scandals during Gonzalez's nearly 14 years in
power.
Voter turnout was seven percentage points lower than the
77 percent rate in the last election -- a development that
analysts said heavily favoured Aznar because of what is widely
seen as a leftward tilt of the Spanish electorate.
Aznar had based his campaign on the economy, claiming
credit for buoyant growth, falling unemployment and Spain's
qualification for the launch of the euro.
But the Socialists accused the government of pursuing
policies that have concentrated economic power in the hands of
wealthy business interests, including some of Aznar's own
friends.
Aznar, the Spain's first right-leaning prime minister
since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, fought
back by warning voters that a Socialist-Communist
administration would led to economic ruin.
Aznar's party squeezed past the Socialists by just one
percent of the popular vote in 1996, but it was still
considered an historic turning point in Spanish politics.
He then worked hard during his first term to shed his
party's authoritarian roots and shift it towards the political
centre. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS - SOURCE TO BE VERIFIED
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