Spain: Felipe's Decisive Victory

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Socialists gain power after four decades

The first sign came from the northern provincial capital of Huesca, a traditionally conservative area, where the early returns showed the Socialists well ahead. Next came coastal Pontevedra, a longtime franquista stronghold in Galicia, which the Socialists came surprisingly close to carrying. Then the southern province of Alrneria, another conservative bastion, fell to the Socialists. Finally the rose-colored tide rolled across the plains of Old Castile.

By 11:55 p.m. last Friday, four hours after the polls closed, the outcome was already clear: a decisive victory for the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (P.S.O.E.), which will have an absolute majority of 201 seats in Spain's 350-member Cortes, up from 120 seats in 1979. The new conservative opposition party, Alianza Popular, finished a strong second with 106 seats. The Communists won only five seats, down from 20 in the outgoing parliament. In effect, the vote meant the total collapse of the political center, which has governed the country since the return of democracy in 1976 following the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Thus, 43 years after their defeat in Spain's bloody Civil War, the Socialists were coming to power as a legitimate, popularly elected governing party for the first time in Spanish history.

"This election has entrusted the government of Spain to the Socialists for the next four years," said jubilant Party Leader Felipe Gonzalez Marquez in an early morning victory statement. Appealing to workers, employers, the bureaucracy and even "the military and forces of public order," the handsome, boyish-looking Gonzalez (who, at 40, becomes the youngest head of government in Western Europe) asked for the cooperation of "all sectors of society." The Socialist leader, who will take over as Prime Minister in December, said that the first domestic priority would be "overcoming the economic crisis." As for foreign policy, he said, "we are going to work for Spain, for peace between nations, for detente and dialogue, and for the populations who suffer from violated human rights."

That speech came as a climax to a late night vigil at Socialist election headquarters in Madrid's Palace Hotel. A crowd of some 4,000 applauded as results were flashed on a giant 30-ft. color-television screen outside the hotel. Party workers sent up occasional chants of "Felipe, Presidentel Felipe, Presidente!" while other supporters converged on the capital's main square, singing, dancing and hugging one another. One grizzled workingman with a red bandanna on his neck embraced a well-wisher with tears in his eyes and announced hoarsely, "España socialista!" Overall, however, the crowds were relatively subdued, partly because the outcome had been so widely predicted, and partly because González had appealed for the "avoidance of any provocation" that might upset the stability of Spain's fledgling democracy.