Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Barely two hours after the polls closed, the opposition Socialist Party claimed victory as Spaniards waving flags poured into Madrid's streets. The Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar conceded defeat, another victim of Spain's deadliest terrorist attack and one increasingly attributed to Islamic extremists.

The Socialist victory ends eight years of conservative government and deprives Washington of one of its closest allies. The next prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home Spanish troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, where they were among the earliest members of U.S.-led alliances.

Numerous voters said they believed Spain's support for the Bush administration had put it in the cross hairs of Islamic terrorists. Aznar's government had tried to downplay the possibility that the bombings, which killed 201 people and injured 1,500 others, were the work of Islamic militants and instead blamed Basque separatists, despite growing evidence to the contrary.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 20, 2004
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