Spain’s Socialists Face Losses Over 20% Unemployment

From AFP:

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

In the face of a possible major defeat at the polls, Spanish ruling party’s candidate for prime minister in the country’s November elections, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has pledged to cut record unemployment and shield education and health care from spending cuts. Rubalcaba, who was interior minister and deputy prime minister, is the Socialists’ candidate for  prime minister in the 20 November 2011 election.

Spain’s unemployment rate is the highest among developed nations with a record 20.89%, following the collapse of a labor-intensive property boom in 2008.

A survey published in late September in the Catalan newspaper El Periodico reported that if the election took place now, the Popular Party would win an absolute parliamentary majority while the Socialists would have their worst defeat ever.