Spain's ruling Socialists are today reeling from losses in local elections and now have to balance voter anger over high unemployment and investor demands for austerity measures.
A week of protests by Spaniards fed up with the stagnant economy and the EU's highest jobless rate preceded yesterday's elections, which left the Socialists out of power in most of the country's cities and almost all of its 17 autonomous regions.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last night conceded the Socialists (PSOE) had lost heavily but said he planned to stay on to the end of his term in March next year.
The centre-right opposition Popular Party (PP) has called for the Socialists to resign several times in recent months, but leader Mariano Rajoy did not call for early elections at a victory rally last night.
The Socialists have avoided losing budget votes and having to call early elections with the support of small parties like the Basque Nationalist (PNV).
The PP grabbed several traditional Socialist strongholds for themselves, including the city of Seville and the Castilla-La Mancha region, both plagued with especially high unemployment.
In the aggregate municipal vote nationwide the PP had a 10-percentage point lead over the Socialists, who have not lost so badly in municipal elections since democracy returned to Spain in 1978 after the Franco dictatorship.
Spaniards had been patient for three years of economic trouble, but this wore out in the run-up to the elections when tens of thousands of mostly young protesters took to the streets in cities around the country.
The PP will try to use momentum from yesterday's landslide to win at national level, but it does not have enough seats in parliament to win a vote of no confidence and may have to wait.
The Socialists meanwhile have to choose a successor to Mr Zapatero, who has said he will not run for a third term. Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba and Defence Minister Carme Chacon are both contenders.
Reuters