(14 Mar 2004)
Near headquarters of the Partido Popular, Madrid
1. Spanish flag on polling station balcony
2. Pan of balcony
3. Sign outside polling station
4. Door outside polling station
5. Various - people going into polling station
6. Interior - people looking at register
7. Pan from people waiting to people registering
8. People registering
9. Candidates list
10. Voters at desk
11. Officials seen through ballot box
12. Man''s vote being entered into box
13. Various voters at voting desk
14. Woman''s vote being put in box
15. People at voting desk
16. Pan of polling station interior
17. Man at voting desk
18. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Vox pop, woman:
"The voting should be a response, people should vote and punish the government."
19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Vox pop, man:
(Who do you think will win?) "I think the PP."
(And what do you think about having the elections today after the attacks?) "I think they are more necessary than ever. It''s a way of, I don''t know how to say, there are still a lot of emotions, it''s more than ever an obligation."
20. Nuns leaving the polling station after voting, others leaving
STORYLINE:
Voting was underway in Spain''s general elections on Sunday, elections overshadowed by Thursday''s terrorist attacks.
Although the ruling Partido Popular had been expected to win, the results could be swayed by a reported al-Qaida claim that it carried out the
bombings to punish the government for supporting the U.S.-led Iraq war.
The decision to support the war was hugely unpopular in Spain.
Ruling Popular Party candidate Mariano Rajoy had led most polls until the bombing which killed at least 200 and injured 1,500 others.
His conservative party had been projected to win the most seats in the 350-member Congress of Deputies, and maybe retain its outright majority.
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar''s government initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the rail attacks.
But just hours before polls opened, Interior Minister Angel Acebes announced the arrests of three Moroccans and two Indians and later disclosed
the existence of a videotape in which Osama bin Laden''s al-Qaida terror group claimed responsibility for the worst terror attack in Spain''s history.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Popular Party headquarters in Madrid and other cities on Saturday night demanding the truth about who carried out the bombing, and also shouting criticism of the government.
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