Remember, Spain had two conservative governments (1996-2004) was doing very well economically, was a strong supported of the US post 9/11, and was posed to re-elected the conservatives. Three days before the vote, the Madrid train bombings gave the Socialists a win, because they promised to appease the terrorists..once in power...they institued a full socialist agenda.. ( never miss the opportunity to take advantage of something bad, eh, Rahm) and only now have been tossed. Portugal, OTOH, is toast..
I always found it ironic and somewhat comical that the socialist that Spain elected after 9/11 was named Zapatero. “zapatero’’ means ‘’shoemaker’’ in Spanish. At a time when Spain need a leader they elected a shoemaker.