Spanish general election results

The Popular Party, as expected,  won a decisive victory in yesterday's general elections, gaining more than 10.7 million votes and 186 (of the 350) seats in Parliament. This was Mariano Rajoy's third attempt as candidate for Prime Minister, and this time he led his party to a historic result. He improved José Maria Aznar's majority Popular Party win 12 years ago by almost half a million votes and three seats. The Spanish Socialist PSOE party registered it's worst ever result and lost 4.3 million voters comnpared to the last general elections. The left wing coalition Izquierda Unida made important gains, as did the Catalan Separatist Party, CiU, and the new Basque left-wing Separatist party coalition

So, Mariano Rajoy will be the next Prime Minister of Spain. His first and most important mission will be to manage the worst economic situation in recent decades and to implement reforms intended to address the Spanish debt and to meet the deficit targets agreed with Brussels.

The Popular Party has won such a large majority that they will not have to rely on the support of any other parliamentary group to push their anti-crisis measures through. During the campaign Rajoy refused to indicate the scale or the direction of the cuts his party intends to carry out or to reveal which party members would have ministerial posts. In his victory speech last night, Rajoy warned that the coming months would be far from easy and that Spain was at "a crossroads that will decide the future of our country for the coming years or decades".

Meanwhile, the PSOE party faces the challenge of rising from the ashes. Jose Luis Zapatero has said he will act to make the hand-over of power (which usually takes a month in Spain) quicker than usual, and the PM candidate, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, has called on his colleagues to convene a Party congress to decide the new leadership. The Socialists won just 110 seats - its worst ever result.

ETA renounces use of arms

ETA has declared, through the newspapers Gara and Berria, a permanent halt to armed conflict and has appealed to the Spanish and French to "open a direct dialogue" to resolve "the consequences of conflict".

The band, which in the statement calls itself thes "Basque revolutionary socialist organization  for national liberation", said that the International Peace Conference held in the Basque Country this week had been "an initiative of great political significance" and the statement agreed at the meeting " put together the ingredients for a comprehensive solution to the conflict and has the support of broad sectors of Basque society and the international community. "

"In Euskal Herria is opening a new political period. We have been given a historic opportunity to offer a just and democratic solution to the secular political conflict " the statement read, and "instead of the former violence and repression, dialogue and agreement should characterize the new cycle".

The statement when on to say that "it is time to look ahead with hope and to act with responsibility and courage." To this end ETA had decided to call for a "permanent halt to armed activity," and call on the Governments of Spain and France to open "a direct dialogue process aimed at resolving the consequences of the conflict and overcoming the armed confrontation"
Political reaction to the ETA permanent ceasefire

A sombre and weary-looking José Luis Zapatero gave a press conference shortly after ETA's announcement in which he expressed his satisfaction, and said Spain would now have a democracy without violence, but not without memory (referring to the victims of terrorist attacks). He stressed the role of the police, detectives and civil guards and also acknowledged the support of the French Government in the fight against ETA. Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition PP party and according to all political surveys, clear winner in the Spanish elections next month, said it was good news for Spain and a credit to Spanish civil society. He also underlined the fact that the announcement had come without any policital concessions having been made to the terrorists.


Video of ETA's ceasefire statement

Last bullfight in Barcelona

Last July a law was passed by the regional government of Catalonia prohibiting bullfighting in Catalonia from 1^st January 2012.

Yesterday the last bullfight took place in Barcelona. Two of Spain’s most famous bull fighters José Tomás and Sebastián Marín opened the historic occasion which took place in Barcelona’s famous Monumental bull ring.

It was an emotional occasion for those involved with some spectators holding up placards saying ‘we will go on’. Barcelona has a long history of bull fighting dating back centuries - the first ever documented bull fight took place in 1387.

However, opponents to bullfighting, viewed by many as barbaric, celebrated the end of this long tradition in Spain’s second largest city.

Spanish banks are safe insists Bank of Spain

The Bank of Spain has insisted that no Spanish bank or building society needs more capital under the new law designed to reform the financial system.

However doubts have been cast over this assertion in an article published today in the Financial Times in which it says that 16 European banks - seven of which are Spanish - only just got through the so called ‘stress tests’ last July and are in need of more capital.

Alarm bells started ringing yesterday when the European Comissioner for the Internal Market, Michel Barnier, could not rule out possibility of some banks requiring help from the state.

The seven Spanish banks in question are the Banco Popular, Bankinter, Bankia, Banca Cívica, NovacaixaGalicia, Banco Sabadell and Caixa Ontinyent.

In a statement to the press the Bank of Spain has said that 'no Spanish entity needs additional capital’ in order to fulfill the requirement of 5% principal capital demanded by the European banking authorities. The Bank of Spain also said that the seven Spanish banks which had capital between 5% and 7% had more than 6.5% capital.

The Bank of Spain also said that under the law passed last February on the reform of the financial system all Spanish banks must have levels of capital over 8% and building societies at least 10%.

In separate statements the seven Spanish banks in question have also strenuously denied that they need more capital.

Teacher strike in Spain

Teachers in Madrid are on strike for a second day in protest at the cuts to education funding as part of the government’s austerity measures. Yesterday thousands of teachers, students and parents took to the streets of Madrid in protest at the cuts. Teachers in the region of Galicia are carrying out a one day strike today and another demonstration will take place in Santiago de Compostela today. Union leaders said that the strike in Galicia had the support of more than 60% of their members.

According to a spokesperson for CIG-Ensino, the new school timetable which the government wants to impose will impede schools being able to carry out diverse complementary activities, students being able to use libraries as much as before and also damage activities aimed at preventing students from leaving school without any qualifications.

The cuts which are currently being carried out by the government are also leading to cuts in the number of teaching posts. In Madrid where teachers are on strike for a second day teacher representatives said that 78% of teachers supported the strike although the authorities claimed that it only 43% of teachers were supporting it.