Spain: Poll Shows Socialist Party Loser In Elections

Support for the Spanish Ruling Socialist Party is on the decline, and it will be a possible loser at the local elections due next May, a recent survey predicted Sunday against the backdrop of high unemployment rates, and austerity measures taken in the face of the economic crisis.

The survey results, that were published on the website of the Spanish daily of El Mundo, said that the ruling party was threatened by losing power in a number of autonomous provinces in which it enjoys a historic support due to the growing popularity of the opposition People’s Party.

The survey referred to the receding popularity of the ruling Socialist Party in the northern province of Cantabria, and the Mediterranean province of Balearic islands in which the opposition People’s Party got 49.3 percent of the supporting votes against 30 percent for the ruling party when the respondents had been asked on the upcoming local and municipal elections which are due to be held in 13 Spanish areas and provinces of the total 17 Spanish regions on May 22.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced earlier this month that he will not be running for the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2012, asserting in the meantime that he will remain in office till the end of his term, and in case there is no early elections.

A previous survey conducted by the Center for Research on Social Reality and published last month showed that unemployment is a main element of anxiety to 81.8 percent of the Spanish people, while the rate of unemployment hit its all-time high last March with the number of jobless jumping to 4.33 million, the highest rate of joblessness in the country since 1996.