The incoming Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, maintains the intention he declared all during the campaign to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq if the United Nations does not assume the formal occupation role by the end of June. He says, "Certainly, the Spanish troops in Iraq will be returning before the 30th of June," in that case. (Zapatero: 'Los españoles tenían ganas de cambio' El Mundo 03/15/04) A UN assumption of occupation duties is very unlikely.
He also had some direct words for the leaders of the US and Britain. He says that the "intervention and occupation" of Iraq "has been a big diasaster." Which we all know. But it's nice to see Spain's new leader saying it directly. He says that Bush and Blair should "reflect and be self-critical: one cannot bomb a people 'just in case', one cannot organize support for a war by lies." ( Zapatero formará gobierno en solitario apoyado en pactos puntuales CincoDías.com 03/15/04)
Zapatero will try to form a PSOE government without a coalition partner, even though the PSOE is a few seats short of a parliamentary majority. This would require the support of some parlimanetary members of smaller parties.
The conservative PP is grumping that it was al-Qaeda and the Madrid attack that allowed the PSOE to win. El análisis de las elecciones en los medios cercanos al Gobierno CadenaSER.com 03/15/04) In one sense, Zapatero agrees. He believes that the notable higher voter turnout compared to four years ago was due to the attacks, which he thinks made more people think it was their civic duty to go vote (CincoDías.com article linked above).
(Presumably, the higher turnout helped the PSOE, though I haven't see any polling data on that.)
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