SPAIN’S PRIME minister, Mariano Rajoy, faces a high-stakes election in his home region of Galicia tomorrow in which voters could punish him for his handling of the euro zone debt crisis.
The vote has become a referendum on Mr Rajoy’s bank bailout, spending cuts and tax hikes and the seeming inevitability of a second euro zone aid package, which officials have told Reuters could be sought next month.
“I think the People’s Party (PP) will be punished,” business owner and PP supporter Agustin Garcia-Monton said, after attending Mass in the cathedral of the pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela, where Mr Rajoy was born.
European sources and analysts said Mr Rajoy wanted to wait until after the election to make an aid request, as he feared tough attached conditions, such changes in the pension system, could anger voters. Elections also take place in the Basque country on Sunday.
The PP risks losing its absolute majority, and power altogether, in Galicia’s legislature. This would be a major psychological blow to Mr Rajoy, whose party has ruled his homeland for 24 of the past 31 years.
A win would give Mr Rajoy much needed political breathing space nationally, as polls have shown him losing support amid massive demonstrations against spending cuts in public services.
The doubts of ideological conservatives could lead to higher abstentions or a surge for Galicia’s BNG nationalist party or smaller parties, which could result in a coalition forcing the PP from power.
A newspaper poll saw the PP taking 39 seats to 21 for the Socialists, but earlier polls had shown the party short of the 38 seats needed for a majority.– (Reuters)