MONDRAGON, Spain — Weeping and clutching flowers, thousands of people mourned a small-town politician killed by a suspected Basque separatist in an attack that shocked Spain two days before a general election.
For many Spaniards, the timing of the violence was reminiscent of the March 2004 train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid three days before elections.
“Just like four years ago, our date with the polls is stained with blood through the vile action of terrorism,” Spain’s top-selling newspaper, El Pais, said in a front-page editorial.
But it was unclear how today’s election would be affected by Isaias Carrasco’s killing in the Basque town of Mondragon. There could be a wave of sympathy benefiting Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero — or a backlash against him for negotiating in vain with the armed separatist group ETA.
Four years ago, Zapatero’s Socialists came to power in the wake of the train bombings. The conservative government at the time blamed ETA for the attacks even as evidence mounted that Islamic militants were responsible. Many Spaniards saw that as a bid to deflect perceptions that Spain had become a target for al-Qaeda because of the government’s support for the Iraq war, and the conservatives lost the election.
Carrasco’s eldest daughter appealed for massive voter turnout today as a way to defy ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in its decades-old battle for an independent Basque homeland.
“I call on those who want to show solidarity with my father and with our pain to vote en masse Sunday and tell the murderers that we are not going to take a single step backward,” Sandra Carrasco, 20, said after a silent vigil in memory of her father.
In three polls released last week, Zapatero’s party had a 4-point lead over the conservative Popular Party. The campaign had been dominated by a slowing economy and concerns over illegal immigration.
The opposition conservatives have hammered away at Zapatero for negotiating with ETA, saying he gave the group legitimacy just as it was at its weakest point after years of arrests.
ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006, saying it wanted a negotiated settlement to the conflict. But the group grew frustrated with a lack of concessions in ensuing peace talks with Zapatero’s government.
It called off the truce in June.
