The governing Socialists in Spain have been voted out of office in the north-eastern region of Catalonia. The result was a blow to the central government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. With 99.9 per cent of ballots tallied, Catalans gave 62 seats to a moderate nationalist party, the Convergence and Union and just 28 to the Catalan Socialist Party. The Convergence and Union party is six short of an outright majority in the 135-seat Parliament. It is the worst result in the 32-year history of the Catalan Socialist Party, which has ruled the wealthy northeastern region since 2003.