Spanish Manipulation?

After the bombings in Madrid and elections shortly thereafter, I know many were left questioning how the majority political opinion in Spain seemed to change so quickly. My History of France professor shared a lot of insightful information with us. Even though the topic has long since been surpassed, I want to pass this on for those who may not already be aware since I certainly wasn't. Note that I have not had time to verify this with print sources, though I have heard the same information from other professors.

On Wednesday (3/10) before elections in Spain, the Popular Party (which was currently in office) was winning in the polls. The bombings occured on Thursday (3/11) and within hours a Minister (of the Interior, I believe) announced that the group ETA was responsible. ETA is a Basque separatist group known for attacking the Spanish government, usually killing only a few and never civilians. The attacks in Madrid were not their style.

As my professor pointed out, it was extremely unusual for the government to announce who was responsible immediately without said group claiming responsibility. Normally, they say something more along the lines of having leads that are being investigated, etc. However, with the elections a few days later, the Popular Party - which strongly supported the war in Iraq - wanted to dispell suspicion that Al Qaeda had carried out the attacks because of said support.

Unfortunately for them, they were caught in the act. Within a few hours, ETA denied having anything to do with the attacks and Al Qaeda claimed responsibility. Now, I know many who have stopped there and essentially said that the Socialist Party won the elections three days later because the Spanish wanted to avoid more attacks by giving Al Qaeda what they wanted. However, there's more to consider.

It wasn't the first time that the Popular Party had lied. Last summer, when the Prestige oil tanker began sinking off the coast of Spain, the government called for it to be towed into port where all the oil could be pumped out safely. Two days later, while the Prestige was being towed in, they changed their minds and sent it back out to sea. Almost immediately upon returning out to open water, the ship split and oil spilled, washing up as far north as Bordeaux, France. The government, however, denied that there was any oil spill so that they wouldn't have to pay for the clean up and left the people of the coastal towns to clean it up themselves.

Furthermore, the Popular Party did not represent the Spanish population well during their time in office. When Spain joined the war in Iraq, 90% of the Spanish population was against the decision. So it seems to make sense that they would want the Popular Party out - especially when they lied again in order to try and sway the vote. I've heard some ask why the elections weren't delayed, but that would only have given the people more time to confirm and reflect upon the fact that the Popular Party lied about the cause of the attacks. Too bad for them that strategy didn't work anyway...