The Spanish parliamentary elections of March 14,2004 took place in a political context that could be described as out of the ordinary. This was the result of the Madrid terrorist attacks of March 11. As a consequence, the PSOE registered an unexpected victory against the PP. The present article seeks to understand and analyse the process of transformation from national mourning to protest vote against the Aznar government. His attempt at political manipulation by laying the blame for the terrorist attack entirely at the door of the ETA backfired. It contributed to motivate the leftwing electorate, who had abstained in previous elections, to return to the polls and vote for the PSOE. This was an unusual case of the less conventional forms of political participation and the traditional electoral process coming together in a common rejection of political lies.