Ex-Franco minister loses vote in northwest Spain

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Ex-Franco minister loses vote in northwest Spain

The Associated Press, ReutersWEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2005

MADRID Manuel Fraga, the last political survivor of General Francisco Franco's regime, has lost power in Spain's Galicia region after an election decided by overseas voters, results showed Tuesday.

The famously outspoken Fraga, 82, leader of the conservative Popular Party, had held the office of regional president since 1990 and was seeking a fifth straight term.

But Socialists and nationalists won a majority in the Galician legislature and are expected to form a coalition.

The election for the 75-seat legislature was held June 19 but ended up too close to call and came down to a tally of ballots cast by Galicians living abroad, mainly in Latin America. One seat in Pontevedra Province remained at stake. It ended up going to the Socialists.

Traditionally, the ballots from emigrants who fled poor rural Galicia for a better life in Latin America have favored the Popular Party.

With opinion polls predicting a tight race, Fraga traveled to South America during the campaign to seek votes.

The Popular Party ultimately won 37 seats, one short of a majority. The Galician branch of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist Party took 25, and the Galician National Bloc won 13. They are expected to form a coalition.

Fraga said late Monday night that he wanted to stay in politics as the leader of the opposition.

The Socialist leader, Emilio Pérez Touriño, who is expected to be sworn in as Galicia's next president, said voters had given him "a mandate for change and renewal."

The results dealt yet another setback to the Popular Party, which was seeking a comeback after being voted out of power nationally in general elections in March 2004, losing Spain's leg of elections to the European Parliament last year and performing poorly in Basque regional elections in April.

Fraga served as Franco's information minister, and after Spain's transition to democracy, following the death of the dictator in 1975, formed the party that is now called the Popular Party.

He and Franco were natives of Galicia, a traditionally conservative region.

Fraga was sharply criticized in 2002 for his handling of a massive spill from the oil tanker Prestige that wrecked the region's shellfish industry.

At the time of the spill he was hunting near Madrid and critics said he was slow to return.

Fraga, who was also the tourism minister under Franco, is well remembered for bathing in the sea to show it was safe after an American B-52 bomber carrying hydrogen bombs crashed in southern Spain.