Spanish swings to the right in two regional elections

Spain's first elections since last February's abortive coup produced a sharp swing to the right and a severe setback for the ruling centrist party, according to provisional results issued Wednesday.

People in two poor regions voted Tuesday - Galicians in the northwest to elect their first home-rule parliament and Andalusians in the south in an autonomy referendum. Provisional returns from the Galician vote showed that the Union of the Democratic Center Party lost ground heavily to the Conservative Popular Alliance headed by Manuel Fraga, a minister under the late dictator, Francisco Franco.

Official figures put the popular alliance two seats ahead of the UDC in the new 71-seat Galician Assembly, with 26 and 24 seats, respectively. The Socialists won 17 seats.