WI: PP win the 2004 Spanish Election

Let's say the Madrid bombings are either foiled, or the PP manage to respond a little better to its aftermath, and end up as the largest majority 5-10 seats off a majority, as the polls indicated up till then. What would Spain be like now?

Would it be too late to avert the debt crisis? Presumably the PP would lose the next election, having been in power three terms and faced a financial crisis. Would the various separatist and populist movements be weaker or stronger under a later than OTL PSOE government?
 

Archibald

Banned
I was an ERASMUS student in Malaga when shit hit the fan in 2004. Could never forget the days after.
From memory, the PP had a solid advantage in polls until the attacks that happened three days before the elections. Within the next two days they ruined their chances, insisting foolishly and shamelessly that ETA had masterminded the attacks when early evidence already pointed Al Quaeda.
What happened was that on February 28, 2004 an ETA bomb truck loaded with 1200 pounds of explosives was detained on its way to Madrid.
Which mean that both ETA and Al Quaeda planned to bomb Madrid at the same time, yet the two attacks would have been entirely unrelated. This blew my mind back then and even today. I often wondered if PP insistance that ETA was beghind the 03-11-2004 attacks was related to that bomb truck. Perhaps they thought "dang, ETA had a plan B".

No attacks, and Rajoy's PP probably win.
 
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