The Socialist Party victory in Spain has sent political shock waves around the world, changed the European power balance, and is ominous news for George Bush, according to an analysis in today’s Asia Times.
The election has drawn Spain closer to France and Germany, further isolating Tony Blair in Europe and threatening his continued leadership of the Labour Party. The election outcome is being attributed to an unusually high turnout by Spanish youth opposed to the Iraq war, and the unprecedented mobilization of the Socialist Party ranks angered by the election-eve efforts of the Aznar government to use the Madrid bombing to partisan advantage. A large turnout of Democratic Party and independent American voters angry at having been lied to about Iraq haunts the Bush administration, and the Spanish result will do little to allay its foreboding. The underestimated electoral power of the antiwar movement may, as J. Sean Curtin notes, also make the Japanese government more vulnerable, and he could have added Italy, Poland, and Australia to the list. Article reproduced on www.supportingfacts.com Sorry for any cross posting.
