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Political killing ahead of election stuns Spain

Madrid: The killing of a political leader in the northern Basque region has shaken up the election scene in Spain. The attack was blamed on the Basque separatist organisation ETA.

Isaias Carrasco, a former town councillor and member of the Socialist Party, was shot in the Basque town of Mondragon a little after midday on Friday and died shortly afterwards, the Basque Interior Ministry said.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, tipped to win a second mandate in Sunday’s legislative vote, immediately accused ETA of seeking to upset the electoral process. “The terrorists wanted to interfere in the peaceful manifestation of the will of the people at the ballot box,” he said in a televised address. “But Spanish democracy has demonstrated that it does not allow challenges from those who oppose its basic principles and its most essential values.”

Witnesses at the shooting quoted by Spanish media said Mr. Carrasco was shot several times at close range in front of his wife and daughter outside his home. He no longer had police protection since he had retired from active politics. The shooting came two weeks after the government raised its terror alert level to maximum, fearing an ETA attack to coincide with the election.

Both Spain’s main parties immediately announced an end to campaigning. Political, business and union leaders also met in the Congress of Deputies and issued a statement condemning the attack.

Both Mr. Zapatero and the leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party Mariano Rajoy visited Mondragon to meet the victim’s family.

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