ON 22 JUNE 1986, THE PARTIDO SOCIALISTA OBRERO ESPAÑOL (PSOE) achieved a remarkable triumph in the Spanish general elections. Hard on the heels of his success in the highly controversial and close-run referendum on Spain's NATO membership, the Prime Minister, Felipe González, managed to consolidate the PSOE's hold on political power by winning an absolute majority in both the Cortes and the Senate. At the age of 44, with his ability to confound the sceptics seemingly still intact, González appeared to be the most firmly ensconced head of government in Western Europe. Moreover, to underline the magnitude of his achievement, the Socialist leader had reached this position against the prevailing trend of a resurgent Right evident in much of the rest of Europe. Whereas the PSOE's counterparts in Britain, Germany, France and Portugal had suffered a series of demoralizing electoral defeats throughout the 1980s, the Spanish Socialists, with overwhelming successes in 1982 and 1986, seemed set fair to remain in power until the next century.