Spain's premier trails in the opinion polls as cuts loom

SPAIN'S Socialist government grappled with a deepening political crisis this weekend, as opinion polls showed prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government far behind the opposition.

Many voters now believe he will have to call early elections as support for a 2011 austerity budget will be hard to muster.

A poll conducted for El Mundo newspaper by Sigma Dos showed on Sunday that the opposition Popular Party (PP) would take 45.6 per cent of the vote if an election were held now, 10.5 percentage points ahead of Zapatero's Socialists.

The Socialists held a three- point lead over the conservative PP at the March 2008 general elections. But their handling of the economic crisis and unemployment, which has more than doubled to 4.6 million since then, has gutted their support.

The right-of-centre El Mundo said:"What is so extraordinary is the speed at which this has happened – as if Zapatero's whole plan had suddenly imploded and he himself had fallen from his pedestal."