Winners and Losers in ... Spain

It was a good year for...José Rodríguez Zapatero

He was the politician they had nicknamed "Bambi" because his wide-eyed, innocent look made many doubt his abilities. Now José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is the socialist prime minister of Spain, after a surprise victory at elections held three days after the March 11 train bombings which killed 191 people.

It was a bad year for... José María Aznar

After eight years as prime minister, and voluntarily standing down at this year's elections, Mr Aznar must have felt he was going out on a high.

His conservative People's party was still ahead in the opinion polls and he had important friends abroad, including Tony Blair and much-admired pal George Bush. Mr Aznar made the mistake of insisting that only the armed Basque group Eta could have carried out the March 11 bombings in Madrid. Had he been right, his hand-picked successor, Mariano Rajoy, would probably now be the prime minister.

Getting it wrong, and backing war in Iraq against the wish of the vast majority of Spaniards, meant Mr Aznar's career ended not in glory but in defeat.

Coming up in 2005... Referendum

Spain will be the first country to hold a referendum on the European constitution, in February, and the result is widely considered to be a shoo-in for the yes campaign, which is backed by the major parties. The important question is, how many Spaniards will bother to vote?

Spain's parliamentary commission inquiring into the March 11 attacks is expected to come up with a report, though the political infighting means many Spaniards and, especially, the victims of the attacks have lost faith in it.