Spanish PM loses support after ETA bomb - polls

MADRID, Jan 8 (Reuters) Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist party have lost favour with Spaniards since a bomb blamed on Basque separatists killed two people last month, surveys showed today.

The powerful car bomb at Barajas International Airport on December 30 ended a nine-month-old ceasefire by ETA separatists and stalled a nascent peace process in the Basque Country. It was the first lethal ETA attack since May 2003.

In a poll conducted between January 2 and January 4 and published in the right-wing newspaper El Mundo, Zapatero's approval rating dropped to 5.12 out of 10 from 5.48 last month. He is still one of the few Spanish politicians to score over five.

Support for opposition leader Mariano Rajoy rose to 4.91 from 4.78.

The opinion poll, carried out by Sigma Dos, gave Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) a slender 0.5 point lead, the first time since October 2005 that it has pulled ahead of the Socialists.

The PP was ahead before the last general election in March 2004 but lost after trying to blame ETA for train bombings carried out by al Qaeda.

Of 800 people polled for El Mundo, 40.7 per cent said they would vote for the PP, while 40.2 per cent would support the Socialists.

Another right-wing paper ABC carried an opinion poll giving the Socialists 41.1 per cent, a 0.7 per cent lead over the PP.

When ETA declared a ''permanent ceasefire'' in March, the Socialists had a 7.7 point lead.

ABC's survey was conducted by Metroscopia and surveyed 605 voters.

Zapatero instituted a peace process with ETA after its ceasefire but the government called off talks in the aftermath of the airport attack.

The prime minister drew criticism after the bombing for failing to visit the scene for several days and for not clarifying the status of the peace process.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba announced an end to contacts with ETA. Rubalcaba's personal rating in the El Mundo poll rose to 5.22 in January from 4.95 the previous month.

REUTERS AB HS1720