Spain Conservatives Enjoy Resurgence After Decades : Elections: They win 10 of 13 regional governments as rebuff to Prime Minister Gonzalez’s Socialists.

After decades as also-rans, Spanish conservatives basked in political preeminence Monday after a decisive victory in regional and municipal elections around the country.

Jose Maria Aznar, leader of the conservative Popular Party, hailed the result as “a sweeping triumph.” His party’s 35% share of the national vote in multi-party contests marked the best showing ever by a right-wing party in democratic Spanish elections.

The tortilla had flipped, as one commentator put it: Long overshadowed by ruling Socialists, the conservatives have become a major force in Spanish political life--and heavy favorites to win the next general elections, now scheduled for 1997.

“This is only the first step: The next one will be the government of Spain,” Aznar promised thousands of euphoric supporters outside party headquarters as the votes flowed in early Monday.

In rebuffing candidates supported by the Socialist government of Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, the conservatives won 10 of 13 regional governments, five of them by outright majority, final returns showed Monday.

Aznar’s party also won at least 40 of 50 provincial capitals, 32 of them with absolute majorities in multi-candidate elections. In the post-election euphoria, Aznar did not immediately repeat longstanding demands for early general elections.

Gonzalez’s party fared better than many pollsters had anticipated. The Socialists took 31.5%, doing well in small towns and in two rural strongholds, the regions of Extremadura, near the Portuguese border, and Castile-La Mancha in the central plains. The Socialists also held on to the country’s second-largest city, Barcelona, in a contest with Catalan nationalists.

For the Socialists, the result was, in the words of a front-page editorial in the influential El Pais newspaper, a simple defeat rather than total collapse.

“We will continue fighting,” Gonzalez told party loyalists, smiling broadly, “with the will to win the next elections--which will be in 1997.”

Gonzalez has ruled out an early vote. Catalan nationalists, whose legislators assure Gonzalez a majority in Parliament, say they will support him at least through the end of the year.

Sunday’s turnout, at 69.8%, was higher than previous local and regional elections, reflecting the national significance of a vote that was widely presented as a judgment on Gonzalez’s 13-year government, now in its fourth term.

High unemployment and scandals besmirching a number of top government appointees have severely damaged his reputation and the credibility of his government.