Franco-era veteran wins Galicia vote

With virtually all votes counted in parliamentary elections for the north-western Spanish region of Galicia, provisional results show the governing Popular Party has secured an absolute majority and won its fourth successive victory.

Manuel Fraga, the only political survivor of Spain's dictatorship under General Franco, was re-elected regional president.

Mr Fraga, now 78, has long enjoyed strong support in traditionally conservative Galicia.

Galicia is the only one of Spain's three most strongly independent regions, which include the Basque country and Catalonia, not to be governed by a regional nationalist party.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service