4 February 2008

MADRID - Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Popular Party rival Mariano Rajoy accused each other of extremism Sunday as both campaigned for support ahead of the general election on 9 March.

Speaking in the southern city of Granada, Zapatero argued that Rajoy is too "radical" and "too far to the right" to govern as diverse a country as Spain. "The PP is going so far to the right... that it is returning to the times of silence, darkness and domination [of the Franco regime]," Zapatero declared.

Rajoy, however, argued that it is Zapatero who is lacking in moderation. "He is the victim of an attack of nerves that is causing him to pick fights with everyone," the PP leader said at an event in Málaga. "While he is off fighting with bishops and allying himself with civilisations, prices and unemployment keep going up," the PP leader charged.

[Copyright EL PAÍS 2008]

Subject: Spanish news