Spain's general election, which saw the defeat of the right- wing Popular Party (PP) of outgoing prime minister Josi Marma Aznar, turned into a referendum on the Aznar government's support for Washington's war against Iraq.

It came only three days after the terrorist bombing atrocity in Madrid that killed 200 and wounded another 1,500, which Aznar sought to exploit to justify his alliance with the United States.

The upset victory for the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), which has criticized the invasion of Iraq, sent shock waves through governments around the world - primarily in Washington and London.

The vote revealed a broad, deep and intense popular hostility to both the war and the government lies that have accompanied it a sentiment that is by no means limited to Spain. It reflected the depth of public opposition throughout Europe and in the United States to the war-mongering of Aznar, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and, above all, President George W. Bush.

The PSOE will form a government, having won 42 per cent of the vote against the Popular Party's 38 per cent in an historically high turnout of 77.2 per cent 8.5 percent higher than the last general election in 2000.

The PSOE got the biggest number of votes of any party ever, 10.9 million - 2.8 million votes more than in 2000. The PP's vote dropped by 700,000. Support for the PSOE was particularly high amongst young first-time voters.

The massive turnout was in large part the result of a surge of last-minute voters, who reacted to the Madrid bombings, and to the initial, entirely unsubstantiated claims of the government to have definitive proof that the culprits were from the Basque separatist ETA, by resolving to vote the Popular Party out of office.

As evidence mounted that seemed to point to Al Qaeda, the conviction grew among broad masses of Spaniards, who had opposed the war from the start, that Aznar's support for the US invasion had heightened the threat of terrorist atrocities and politically implicated the government in the tragic loss of life that occurred on Thursday.

Mr Aznar was considered by Mr Bush to be a crucial European ally, second only to Britain's Blair. His ouster was described by the Wall Street Journal as having dealt a stinging blow to President Bush's policies for combating Muslim terrorism and remaking the Middle East.

The Journal continued: "The Socialists' campaign had tapped into the broad opposition in Spain to the war on Iraq, so the party clearly drew fuel from the blasts in Madrid even while neither Basque separatists nor Al Qaeda was a confirmed culprit."

Britain's Independent newspaper commented that "the sudden loss of power for Spain's ruling Popular Party, which joined Tony Blair in steadfastly supporting George Bush's 'war on terror,' is nothing short of a political earthquake.

With growing unhappiness over Iraq already eating into Mr Bush's lead in the race for re-election, and Mr Blair facing a crisis of credibility over his justification for the war, the Spanish upset could augur a total change in the political landscape for the three main protagonists in the war to oust Saddam."

The election punctured the false image projected by the media of a broad popular consensus in support of the right-wing policies of Aznar, Bush and Blair. It laid bare an important political reality: the fact that each of these governments rests on an extremely narrow social base of support.

The immediate catalyst in Aznar's downfall was the exposure of his government's efforts to blame ETA for the series of bombs at the Atocha rail station and two smaller stations that have now claimed 200 lives and threaten still more deaths from among the injured.

The naked character of the government's efforts to manipulate public outrage at the terrorist bombings fuelled an explosion of anger, resulting in a victory for the PSOE.

The PP was anxious that ETA be blamed for the bombings because Mr Aznar has portrayed himself as the most determined opponent of its terrorist tactics and the guardian of the territorial integrity of Spain.

He had focused on these issues, in large measure, to divert attention from his efforts to impose austerity measures and welfare cuts. At the same time, the government feared with justification, as events have proven that a popular perception that the bombings were the work of Al Qaeda or some sympathetic group would redound against the Popular Party and its prime ministerial candidate, Mariano Rajoy.

Within minutes of the Madrid bombings, Popular Party spokespersons made public statements declaring that ETA was responsible. On the afternoon of the outrages, Foreign Minister Ana Palacio instructed her ambassadors: "You should take every opportunity to confirm ETA's responsibility in these brutal attacks."

Initially, the PP's tactics seemed to be working. Campaigning for the March 14 elections was suspended, and everything was given over to the March 12 official day of mourning and remembrance called by the government.

This was supposedly a non-political event, but the Popular Party had ensured by its propaganda that there would be no shortage of banners denouncing ETA as 11 million people - a third of the Spanish population took to the streets.

The government described the rallies as a show of solidarity "with the victims, with the constitution and for the defeat of terrorism." The reference to the 1978 constitution implicitly identified ETA as the culprit, since the constitution affirms the territorial integrity and unity of the Spanish state.-Courtesy: World Socialist Website.