‘It’s Politics, Stupid!’ The Spanish General Election of 2004

THE Spanish general election of 14 March 2004, which took place only three days after the Madrid bombings on the 11 March, produced a change of government that opinion surveys had not predicted. It is easy to assume, therefore, that the change of government from the right-wing Popular Party (PP), which had governed Spain for the previous eight years, to the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was a direct result of the terrorist bombings which left 192 dead and over 1,500 injured. While the terrorist bombings undoubtedly influenced the general election, this article argues that a more detailed reading of the last four years of the Spanish political context shows that the change of government was not simply a result of the ‘four days that changed Spain’.