Is Aznar's party toast in today's election?

[JCMach1]

Do shrub's buds/allies go down to defeat in Spain now that it 'APPEARS' al Quaeda may have had something to do with the Madrid bombing?

[Renew Deal]

1. Aznar isn't on the ballot.

But I think the election will be close. I wonder what the margins were pre-bombing.

[JCMach1]

3. His party is though!

:bounce:

[punpirate]

6. As I recall from other posts...

... the Popular Party was about 5 points ahead in the polls immediately prior to the bombing, enough to rule without forming a coalition. I guess we won't know if that remains true until the tally Sunday night and Monday morning.

[Jacobin]

2. I believe its Aznar's handpicked successor who is up for election

My guess and vote is that he is toast. I was listening to the BBC broadcasts of the protests today. The one chant that stuck in my mind was "Your War, Our Dead".

[JCMach1]

5. sorry, too early in the morning here!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. I am expecting that the Conservatives will hold a narrow plurality.

The Socialists will come in a close second but the evidence points to no one getting a majority of the votes or seats in Parliament.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Wild-card: Spain uses touchscreen voting machines...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3169706.stm

They have also been used in a number of other countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, India, Australia and

[cosmicaug]

10. I understand it's paper ballots.

Junkdrawer quotes:

They have also been used in a number of other countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, India, Australia and

I don't know where the article got this information. I understand plain, uncomplicated paper ballots are used (no machines).

[Junkdrawer]

11. More info here - ES&S Touchscreen systems...

http://www.essvote.com/index.php?section=press_item&press_id=56

[Lefergus70]

12. Spain uses paper ballots

My wife has been chosen to form part of an election committee at our voting place here in Madrid, and they will have to count all the envelopes when the polls close.

[arcos]

15. not true...

if you see the TV shots, you'll see Spanish people voting with a ballot.

That article is not talking about touchscreen voting, but electronic voting. Not all electronic voting machines in the world are developed by US companies.

It is not very accurate either, because my country (Costa Rica) is included in that list, and it was only used in a handful of precincts for local elections, as an evaluation program. And no, they were not made by Diebold, and were not touchscreens.

[Jack Rabbit]

8. I don't know, but I hope so

Aznar should be punished for helping to enable Bush and PNAC in Iraq.

[salinen]

9. Chimpy has the blood

of 200 spaniards dripping from his hands.

[Flagg]

16. 55000 DEAD Iraqis too

plus those 562 US soldiers

[kurtyboy]

13. Jeez, I dunno. Do they have

Diebold????

Could make things interesting.....

[JCMach1]

14. Morning kick

:kick:

[Capt_Nemo]

17. Too close to call

As I said in a LBN post, it is now clear that PP's tactic
was to stirr up this confusion in order to cash in on a highly
emotionaly charged vote in Sunday so that they wouldn't be held
accountable for their bankrupt policy of being "tough on terrorism".

How this will play out now is not yet clear. I have a hunch that, at
least in the Basque country, the PP could be in trouble for having
scapegoated ETA blatantly for political gains. In Catalunya it
could be the same thing. However in Castilla and other regions PP's
sordid propaganda stunt, although exposed, could still benefit the
goverment.

I just hope that a majority of people realize that the government played them for
fools and give them them the punishment they deserve (unfortunately
this maybe expecting too much, due to the current political climate
in Spain).