Spain's conservatives win election in landslide

Spain's opposition conservative Popular Party swept into to power Sunday as voters, enduring a stagnant economy and soaring debt, dumped the Socialists.

With 99 per cent of the votes from the election counted, the centre-right Popular Party won 186 seats compared with 154 in the last legislature, while the Socialists plummeted from 169 to 110, their worst performance ever. The PP thus won an absolute majority and resounding mandate from troubled electorate. It needed 176 votes for such a majority.

In a speech, Rajoy, said he was staring at the "magnitude of the task ahead" warning there would be "no miracle" to restore the country to financial wellbeing.

"We can only go forward if we all go forward together," he intoned.

Sunday's win means that a third euro zone country in as many weeks, after Greece and Italy, has dumped its government as part of a  crisis that is causing financial havoc around the world.

The results are not a surprise given that voters had been expected to deliver a majority to the PP, headed by Mariano Rajoy.

Rajoy has been in opposition since 2004 and polls suggested he would be heading the new government.

Voters also cast ballots Sunday for the 208 spots in the Senate. With 58 per cent of the votes counted, it was 134 seats for the PP and 50 for the Socialists. Several dozen more seats in that chamber are not elected directly.

21.5% unemployment

The 56-year-old Rajoy has not divulged many details about what his party will do to shore up Spain’s deteriorating economy. His platform includes business tax cuts to spark hiring and lowering the country's unemployment rate. Rajoy also said he would meet Spain's commitments to the European Union on deficit reduction.

Outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has instituted painful austerity measures amidst massive debt and 21.5 per cent unemployment. He slashed the wages of civil servants, froze pensions and passed legislation making it easier for companies to hire and fire workers.

The very unpopular Zapatero stepped down as leader of his party, making way for former interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba to battle the PP.

Zapatero, who legalized gay marriage and brought in other liberal policies in the largely Catholic country, has been criticized for moving too slowly on the effects of the global financial crisis on his country.

Spain's overall debt load is now about 70 per cent of gross domestic product.

Rubalcaba had warned Spain’s 34 million eligible voters that Rajoy plans to dismantle much of the country’s social safety net and cut back on workers' rights to favour businesses.