Spain faces a stark choice in looming elections between growth and economic turmoil similar to Greece's, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday, taking a swipe at leftist opponents as his party gears up for one of its toughest campaigns in decades. Rajoy, whose centre-right People's Party (PP) took a drubbing in recent local polls, pointed to Greece's race to avert bankruptcy and a euro zone exit as a warning for Spain, where anti-austerity movements have gained traction. "One doesn't have to go very far to see how easy it can be to ruin a recovery," Rajoy told a party conference, painting a bleak picture of the "strangled" economy in Greece.