Spain's main Opposition party the conservative Partido Popular (PP) won the European elections held on Sunday securing 23 MEP's - two more than the ruling PSOE 21 seats.

The PP won by nearly 600,000 throughout the country, obtaining their first national victory for nine years as the socialist president Rodriguez Zapatero, paid the political price of the recession.

 

Zapatero saw his Socialists slide to a loss by 3.72% only 15 months after winning a general election.

"Today a new political cycle has started in Spain," Jaime Mayor Oreja, the PP's main candidate for the European parliament, said.

With unemployment at 18% and threatening to rise to 20% by the end of the year, Zapatero's drubbing was not as thorough as many in the PP had hoped.

It was proof, however, that the political mood in Spain has changed considerably since he led his party to a four-point victory in the general election last March.

Spaniards as a whole maintained their relative enthusiasm for Europe, with 46% turning out to vote - the same figure as in 2004. 1.41% of all votes cast was blank. Politicians on both sides barely talked about Europe during the campaign, instead concentrating on domestic issues such as the economy, unemployment and political scandals.

Izquierda Unida (Communists) obtained two seats, Coalicion Por Europa two seats, Europa de los Pueblos one seat and Union Progreso y Democracia one seat.