Spain's Losing Party Plans to Sue Movie Director for Slander Over a 'Coup' Accusation
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

MADRID, March 17 — Spain's defeated conservative party said Wednesday that it was going to sue Pedro Almodóvar, the country's most celebrated movie director, because he had accused the government of trying to hatch a "coup d'état" the day before the election.

The Popular Party said in a news release that Mr. Almodóvar had committed "slander and libel."

Appearing at a screening for the press of his new movie, "Bad Education," in Spain on Tuesday, Mr. Almodóvar, an opponent of the Iraq war, called the defeat of the conservatives a "liberating" moment that will usher in a new era of democracy.

Mr. Almodóvar referred to a rumor circulating on the Internet that accused the government of petitioning the Spanish king on the eve of the election to postpone the voting. The rumor, still swirling around Madrid, held that the king refused the request, saying it would constitute a de facto coup d'état.

"We have to understand something terrifying," Mr. Almodóvar told reporters for the news channel Telecinco about the P.P., the Popular Party. "The P.P. was about to, at midnight Saturday, bring about a coup détat. I don't want to be polite or delicate. I'm not trying to throw stones, but you have to see how the P.P. has been operating."

The government has flatly denied the rumor and all political parties have said there is no truth in it. In a television interview on Monday, Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party's defeated candidate for prime minister, called the allegation a "colossal lie" and added that "there are people who should watch what they say and be more patriotic." [P6: Sound familiar?]