LONDON -- The defeat of the government in Spain that backed the war in Iraq is being widely seen in Europe as one of the most crucial events since the 9/11 attacks in New York set off the current war on terror. But the result of the election on March 14, which followed the bombings in Madrid that killed 200 people, is being interpreted in very different ways that reflect the continuing split in Europe about the war and attitudes toward the United States.

A large majority of the Spanish people opposed the decision of their prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, to join his close ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in backing Washington last year. Aznar, who had decided to step down after the election and hand power to a chosen successor, remained unmoved.

So for those who welcome his defeat in the election, the voting was a case of voters exercising their democratic rights against a government that had gone against the will of the majority, and which made itself unpopular with some Spaniards by immediately blaming the train outrages on violent separatists from the Basque region government rather than, as became increasingly likely in the ensuing day, on al-Qaeda or sympathizers among North African immigrants in Spain.