January 19, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 09, 1429

MADRID: Spain’s conservative opposition has embarked on a bout of infighting that could severely damage its chance of victory in parliamentary elections in March, just as it was narrowing the gap with the ruling Socialists.

The event that exposed the rift within the Popular Party leadership was the decision of PP chief Mariano Rajoy earlier this week to refuse to let popular Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon run for parliament.

“This could cost us the government,” said the PP’s leader in the northern region of Vizcaya, Antonio Basagoiti, in remarks on national radio on Thursday.

Gallardon, a social liberal, has performed outstandingly in Madrid, winning over left-wing voters in large numbers, and standing out as the only leader in a party dominated by Catholic conservatives to appeal to the centrist swing vote.

He has made no secret of his disappointment at his rejection, reported to be due to his rivalry with the traditionalist leader of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre.

Party leaders fear Rajoy’s move could cost the party vital centrist votes, at a time when the PP had hoped a declining economy would help it narrow the Socialists’ opinion poll lead.

Spanish newspapers are dominated by the rift between the conservatives’ traditionalist and liberal wings. Some party elders see the split as the start of a party leadership battle.

“Rajoy commits suicide,” read a headline in the conservative newspaper ABC, while an article in El Mundo compared the party’s tribulations to the legendary rifts between soccer “galacticos” which have roiled the dressing rooms of soccer club Real Madrid.

The left-leaning press was even more forceful in its criticism of the PP’s actions, led by El Pais and Publico, which ran front-page stories celebrating the conservative disarray.

The damaging spat follows a gradual improvement in opinion polls for the PP over the last few months as signs that Spain’s economic boom is running into trouble make life difficult for the Socialists.

Recent polls had them just 2-4 percentage points behind the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and analysts had been saying the elections were too close to call.

—Reuters