SPANISH
AMBASSADOR EXPLAINS ELECTIONS, INVESTIGATION, URGES
"WAIT AND SEE"
17 March 2004
Javier
Rupérez, Spanish Ambassador to the US, spoke
today to the American Enterprise Institute, for the
New Atlantic Initiative, about Spain-US relations
and the circumstances surrounding the Spanish parliamentary
elections on Sunday. There has been a great deal of
speculation about the broader significance of the
Spanish vote, which ousted the sitting government,
only days after the attacks.
He
noted that as early as Thursday afternoon, Spanish
investigators were aware that evidence was pointing
to Islamist terrorists as responsible for the bombing.
This is important, because for several days, the governing
party had maintained, if not asserted rather aggressively,
that the Basque group ETA was the sole responsible
party and the chief suspect. Persistent claims to
this effect are thought to have had a negative impact
on the governing party's public image.
Spain's
Ambassador also noted that the Spanish government
chose to go ahead with elections for the specific
reason that to postpone the vote would be to turn
Spain's democracy over to the will of terrorists.
Critics and alarmists have suggested that the Spanish
vote "sends the wrong signal" to the terrorists,
inviting them to target democratic elections, but
even the Spanish government, whose handling of the
investigation has been criticized as less than adroit,
seems to be certain that there is no question but
that the election should be counted as a stand for
democracy as such, in the face of terror.
Mr.
Rupérez added that, while the outcome of the
election was different than what polls had suggested
prior to the bombing, it was not clear that voters
changed their vote as a direct visceral response to
the terror attacks. He specifically cited the high
turnout, upwards of 78% of the electorate (noting
that even in Spain a 70% turnout is "extraordinary"),
as being the single most evident explanation of the
shift in the polls.
This,
also, is an important and contentious point. House
Speaker Hastert today told the press that he believes
Spain's vote was an attempt to "appease
terrorists". His comments, beyond being inflammatory,
seem to be out of step with the Bush administration's
position that Spain cannot be faulted for the timing
of a despicable criminal act. Some have suggested
the Speaker's comments were intended as a defense
attack on behalf of the President, who has been strongly
criticized by Spain's Prime Minister elect.
The
Speaker's aggressive comments have been seen by some
as insensitive or as "blaming the victim"
and in any case should be taken with great skepticism.
Beyond political expediency, his analysis does not
appear to match the facts that have been reported
about events surrounding the election, and clearly
ignore the tenor of civic solidarity adopted by many
Spanish citizens, during mass public gatherings which
included as much as 25% of the entire population.
The
Speaker's office has stated that his intention was
to point out the danger that terrorists deluded by
a pathological hatred of and an inability to understand
the nature of democracy, would interpret the election
results in that way. If this was indeed the intended
meaning of Speaker Hastert's remarks, it would indicate
that any criticism of a free electorate for its choice
was unintended, and that support for a struggle against
terrorism does in fact require open dialogue between
allies. Tony Blair's Labour government, for instance,
allied itself closely with President Bush, even when
policies ran contrary to its party's direction.
Ambassador
Rupérez instructed his audience to be aware
that Spain has a long history of experience with terrorist
violence. While no one can say they adjust to it,
or become accustomed to it, Spain's experience with
terror, in his assessment, meant that the nation's
grief did not result in panic or in any sudden shift
of loyalties.
Asked
to address the complication of pre-election polls
which had seemed to favor the governing party, even
as 90% of the populace had opposed its support for
the Iraq war, Mr. Rupérez explained that the
election campaign had dealt mostly with domestic issues,
such as economics and taxation. This, he indicated,
could mean that the result of the vote points to the
Spanish people seeing in the opposition PSOE a political
party it would be comfortable with, while simultaneously
losing interest in the domestic issues which had helped
the incumbent PP.
The
overall message of the Ambassador's comments could
be summed up in his use of the phrase: "wait
and see". He reminded US observers to be aware
that Spain does not yet have a "new government",
and that Mr. Rodríguez Zapatero will have to
form a government, possibly modifying some of his
positions in order to accomodate coalition political
parties. He also reminded critics to remember that
elections are "a heated time" in a democratic
society, and that the newly elected party should be
given a chance to govern, before its policies are
judged in the international arena.
