MADRID (AP) — Spain’s opposition conservatives are headed for victory and perhaps an absolute majority in parliament as voters braving staggering unemployment ousted the ruling Socialists, according to official results based on 20 percent of the votes cast.
The Interior Ministry said the center-right Popular Party had 179 seats in the 350-member lower chamber, against 109 for the Socialists. In the last legislature, the conservatives had 154 seats and the Socialists 169. An absolute majority is 176.
If confirmed, Sunday’s win would mean that a third euro zone country in as many weeks, after Greece and Italy, which went with unelected technocrats, has dumped its government as part of a crisis that is causing financial havoc around the world.
