The 2001 Spanish general election was held on the 28th September 2001 to elect the 400 members of the Spanish Cortes. It came at the end of a tumultuous four-year term with the PSOE-led government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero running for election to a second term, which would be its first electoral victory if successful.
The Rodríguez Zapatero government had come to power in contentious circumstances three years prior to the election. From February to September 1998, a centre-right PPR-led government under Prime Minister Francisco Álvarez–Cascos had been in power, but in contrast to the comfortable plurality it had held from 1993 to 1997, it required steadfast support from the centrist and regionalist PRD. When in the summer of 1998 relations broke down between Álvarez–Cascos, a staunch anti-federalist, and Catalan President Jordi Pujol, Pujol convinced the new PRD leader Camilo Nogueira (the first ever non-Catalan leader of the party, ironically) to withdraw support for Álvarez–Cascos’s government.
The new leaders of the centre-left PSOE and left-wing IU, Rodríguez Zapatero (who had narrowly beaten Joaquín Almunia for the leadership) and Francisco Frutos, were much more open to cooperation than their predecessors Javier Solana and Julio Anguita, and sensed an opportunity to retake power during this dispute. Their parties held 199 seats in the Cortes combined, easily enough to bring down the PPR in a vote of no confidence with the support of the minor parties. As a result, a vote of no confidence was called on the 23rd September 1998, and it passed, causing Álvarez–Cascos to lose control of the Cortes. President González invited Rodríguez Zapatero to form a government, which he successfully achieved by the 2nd October 1998.
The decision for a new government to be founded without an election had precedent in Spanish politics, as the PPR had done so in 1974, but it was met with vocal resistance from right-wing Spanish voters, and Álvarez–Cascos remained popular as the PPR leader, calling himself ‘the legitimate Prime Minister’. This discontent allowed him to comfortably lead the PSOE in the polls, which further dissuaded González and Rodríguez Zapatero from calling a new election.
With the encouragement of the IU, Rodríguez Zapatero’s government proved quite radical, as it took back government control of a large proportion of shares of Telefónica, reduced austerity measures and attempted to quell nationalist opposition to the central government. Between 1999 and 2001, it instigated negotiations with the ETA, and issued a public apology for the previous PSOE government’s involvement with the GAL, as well as reforming Catalonia’s statute of autonomy after negotiations with Pujol. It also passed reforms to combat domestic violence, increased the minimum wage, and on the 15th September 2000 passed the world’s first same-sex marriage law, with the LGBTQ activist and advocate for the law Pedro Zerolo and his partner Jesús Santos becoming the first two men in the world to be legally married.
All of these policies proved divisive, with leftists largely having very positive views of the Rodríguez Zapatero government while right-wingers were aggressively opposed to it. His government’s polarizing status also caused damage to the PSOE at the federal level, as it lost control of several regions’ devolved governments by association. Even within the party, the right showed considerable reservations about the party’s direction, and a leaked speech in which President González commented, “When he became leader I believed José Luis could be a moderate, but he seems to me to be very much a radical,” sowed discontent between the party’s wings.
The most seriously damaging moment for the government came during the election campaign itself. On the 2nd September 2001, the Cortes was dissolved and the campaign began, and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks just over a week later campaigning was briefly ceased by both parties. A speech given by Rodríguez Zapatero when campaigning resumed two days after the attacks condemned them and urged people “not to use these attacks as a justification for violence and cruelty”, which many on the right viewed as a veiled attack on the plans being made for an invasion of Afghanistan by the UN and US President George W. Bush. Rodríguez Zapatero subsequently apologized for this and agreed that Spain would ally with the UN on the invasion, which angered leftists and further depressed support for the government. By contrast, Álvarez–Cascos declared that if made Prime Minister again he would “stand steadfastly against” terrorism and “restore political normalcy”.
When the election was held, it was noted for its low turnout of just 69.4%, the lowest figure since the 1933 election and therefore the worst turnout since the Civil Wars as well as a fall of almost 12% from the 1997 election, the worst drop ever seen in Spain. The results saw the PPR win an overall majority in the Cortes for the first time in 24 years and broke the record for the most votes it had ever won, with the PSOE falling to just 120 seats, its worst showing since 1977, and IU suffering its worst result ever (the PCE had last performed so badly in 1963). Álvarez–Cascos was elected Prime Minister by the Cortes for a third time, ending what would be the only break in PPR control of the Cortes between 1993 and 2009.
(I feel it’s feasible Spain would beat the Netherlands to the punch on same-sex marriage ITTL since without the dictatorship it’s more socially liberal than in OTL.)
