Of course the ETA murder has forced the rest of the news into the background today.

Zap and Rajoy held their final campaign rallies last night; Spanish law prohibits campaigning on the day before the election, for some reason. It also prohibits the Spanish press from publishing electoral surveys for five days before the election, which is of course absurd.

El Periódico has figured out a way to get around the law; they have an edition published in Andorra, an independent country, and that edition is not subject to Spanish law, so they've put a link to it on their webpage.

Their survey, taken yesterday, has Zap leading with 42.6% of the vote to Rajoy's 38.6%. 18.8% will vote for other parties. This is basically the same result as almost all the other surveys have shown. They have the PSOE with 161-165 seats, about the same as the 164 it won in 2004, and the PP with 153-157 seats, better than the 148 it won in 2004. For the smaller parties, they predict: CiU 8-9 seats, the PNV 6, ERC 5, the Communists 4, and other parties 7-10. 176 seats are needed for a majority in Congress; the PSOE will probably have to govern from the minority, making temporary alliances with smaller parties.

The Barcelona bus strike continues; 17 buses were sabotaged this morning, and militant strikers have been harassing drivers who are not going along with the strike. It's not like these guys are scabs, either, since the two major labor unions, the UGT and CCOO, are opposed to the strike as well. The strikers had a demo yesterday with the university students, who are also "on strike," and took advantage of it to occupy CCOO and UGT headquarters, paint graffiti all over the offices, and attack one of the CCOO officials. We can has jail?

Yeah, the university students are "striking" as well. Who the hell cares whether these wankers go to class or not? They can strike for the rest of their lives as far as I'm concerned. They brought out 5000 demonstrators and snarled up the center of the city, with some help from the bus drivers. They're whining about the European Union's Bologna plan for university education: they say it will lead to "privatization." They're probably afraid someone will make them study, which is just a total bummer.

Update on the ETA murder in Mondragón: The killer was a large man wearing a fake beard and a black leather jacket. Both Zapatero and Rajoy have suspended campaigning, and they will meet this afternoon.