Madrid  - Spanish police Friday detained 13 people in connection with a corruption scandal affecting Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialists two days before regional elections in Galicia and the Basque region.

The socialists governing the village of Alcaucin north-east of Malaga on the southern Costa del Sol were suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for granting illegal building permits in the area.

The detainees included mayor Jose Manuel Martin Alba, his family members, entrepreneurs and architects.

Environmentalists say 20,000 homes have been built around the village, which has only 2,500 residents.

The Socialist Party pledged to expel any members who would be named official suspects in corruption cases.

The conservative opposition accused the socialists of allowing corruption to flourish in municipalities they governed on the Costa del Sol.

The conservative People's Party (PP) is, however, embroiled in an even bigger corruption scandal after a judge named about 40 people, including two national-level politicians, suspects in an investigation into bribery, influence-peddling and money-laundering.

Sunday's regional elections will take the pulse of a country sinking deeper into a recession.

The socialists are tipped to oust the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) from power for the first time in three decades, while the conservatives are believed to have good chances of replacing a coalition of socialists and Galician nationalists in Galicia. (dpa)