Economic arguments won the day in the Spanish general election, returning the Socialist government to power despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church.

Voters decided that the man who gave them same-sex marriage, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (pictured), would be the best person to guide them through a projected economic downturn.

His conservative opponents increased their vote, squeezing out many minor parties, but in the end Spaniards defied a sustained conservative onslaught to give the Socialists the largest vote they have ever received, enabling Zapatero to govern for another four years.

But he didn’t get an absolute majority: Zapatero still needs support from smaller parties in order to govern. However, he refused to speak of forming alliances. It is thought he prefers to do ad hoc deals on individual issues.

The big election issues were unemployment, salaries, immigration instead of the expected referendum of sorts on reforms such as gay marriage, divorce, and other issues which have angered conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church.

The church staged mass rallies in support of ‘Family Values’ and ‘Spanish Values’, echoing similar anti-gay campaigns in Italy and the US, but the strategy seems to have backfired. People cared less about the sanctity of marriage than the sanctity of their wage packet.

"We've shown that we're best prepared to confront this economic slowdown and demonstrated to Spanish families that we're the ones who will help them," said Socialist Party campaign director Oscar López.

by DOUG POLLARD