Two days before the election, a small town politician, Isaias Carrasco, was killed by suspected Basque separatist in the Basque town of Mondragon. The killing on Friday, days before the election is reminiscent of the blood shed from four years ago train bombings in Madrid that ultimately led Zapatero to power. It is still unclear how this unnecessary killing will contribute to todayʼs elections in Spain.

The conservative government at the time blamed ETA for the attacks even as evidence mounted that Islamic militants were responsible. Many Spaniards saw that as a bid to deflect perceptions that Spain had become a target for al-Qaida because of the government's support for the Iraq war, and the conservatives lost the election.

An anticipated wave of sympathy is expected to benefit the Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. On the other hand, it may be a backlash against him for attempting to negotiate with the armed separatist group ETA.

A crowd, estimated at 3000 people, carrying wreaths and crying, filled a square outside the church of St. John the Baptist in Mondragon where Carrasco was gunned down outside his apartment on Friday. As his coffin was carried into the church, onlookers clapped as the typical custom for Spaniard paying their respects and final goodbyes at funerals.

Carrasco's eldest daughter appealed for massive voter turnout today as a way to defy ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in its decades-old battle for an independent Basque homeland.

According to an Associate Press news story by Harold Heckle, Carrasco, 43, served on the town council from 2003-2007 and was one of a handful of non-nationalist members in a town where pro-independence sentiment is fierce. Then, he had a bodyguard. But Carrasco failed to win re-election last year, and turned down an offer to keep the bodyguard. He was shot three times in his car as he prepared to go to his job as a clerk in a highway toll booth.

In the aftermath of his death, Spainʼs political parties called off their Friday rallies even though it was the last day of campaigning for todayʼs elections.

Until the death of Carrasco on Friday, the campaign had been dominated by a slowing economy and concerns over illegal immigration until Carrascoʼs untimely death.