MADRID — Spain’s opposition conservatives swept commandingly into power and into the hot seat Sunday as voters enduring a 21.5 percent jobless rate and stagnant economy dumped the Socialists — the third time in as many weeks Europe’s debt crisis has claimed a government.
As thousands of jubilant, cheering supporters waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags and blue-and-white party ones gathered outside Popular Party headquarters, their leader and future prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, thanked Spaniards for their support, then sounded a somber note of warning.
“It is no secret to anyone that we are going to rule in the most delicate circumstances Spain has faced in 30 years,” he said. “For me, there will be no enemies but unemployment, the deficit, excessive debt, economic stagnation and anything else that keeps our country in these critical circumstances.”
Other than promise tax cuts for small and medium-size companies that make up more than 90 percent of all firms in Spain, the 56-year-old Rajoy has not specified how he will tackle Spain’s unemployment nightmare.
Rajoy faces the towering task of restoring investor confidence and lowering Spain’s soaring borrowing costs with deficit-reducing measures, while not dragging an already-moribund economy into a double-dip recession. It only just climbed out of one last year that was prompted by the bursting of a real-estate bubble.
With 97 percent of the votes from the election counted, the Popular Party won 186 seats compared with 154 in the last legislature. It needed 176 votes to control the main chamber of Parliament. The Socialists plummeted from 169 to 110, their worst performance ever.
“This is what this country needs right now,” said supporter David Cordero, pleased with the prospect of change to create jobs and protect social services such as state-paid health care and education.
