2012 PSOE federal party congress
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The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) held its 38th federal congress in Seville from 3 to 5 February 2012, to renovate its governing bodies—including the post of secretary-general, which amounted to that of party leader—and establish the party platform and policy until the next congress.
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3−5 February 2012
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956 delegates in the Federal Congress Plurality of delegates needed to win | |||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | Secretary-General: 955 (99.9%) Executive: 899 (94.0%) | ||||||||||||||||
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The congress was called after the PSOE suffered its worst defeat since the Spanish transition to democracy in the general election held on 20 November 2011. Previous secretary-general José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had announced in April the same year he would not stand for election to a third term as Prime Minister of Spain, announcing his intention to step down as party leader after a successor had been elected.[1]
The result was a close race between the two candidates to the party leadership: Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the party's candidate for the 2011 general election and former first deputy prime minister and interior minister, and former defence minister Carme Chacón. The ballot saw Rubalcaba win by a 51.0% of the delegate vote (487 votes) to the 48.7% won by Carme Chacón (465 votes), with 2 blank and 1 invalid ballots.[2]
Timetable
Candidates
Declined
The individuals in this section were the subject of speculation about their possible candidacy, but publicly denied or recanted interest in running:
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- Emiliano García-Page (age 43) — Senator appointed by the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha (since 2011); Mayor of Toledo (since 2007); City Councillor of Toledo (1987–1993 and since 2007); Secretary-General of the PSCM–PSOE in the province of Toledo (since 1997); Second Vice President of the Regional Government of Castilla–La Mancha (2005–2007); Member of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha for Toledo (1995–2007); Minister of Institutional Relations of Castilla–La Mancha (2004–2005); Minister-Spokersperson of Castilla–La Mancha (1993–1997, 1998–1999 and 2001–2004); Spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha (2000–2001); Minister of Social Welfare of Castilla–La Mancha (1999–2000); Minister of Public Works of Castilla–La Mancha (1997–1998); Deputy Mayor for Celebrations of Toledo (1991–1993).[7]
- Tomás Gómez (age 43) — Senator appointed by the Assembly of Madrid (since 2011); Spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Assembly of Madrid (since 2011); Member of the Assembly of Madrid (since 2011); Secretary-General of the PSM–PSOE (since 2007); Mayor of Parla (1999–2008); City Councillor of Parla (1999–2008).[8]
- Eduardo Madina (age 36) — Secretary-General of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Congress (since 2009); Member of the PSOE Executive Commission (since 2008); Member of the Congress of Deputies for Biscay (since 2004); City Councillor of Sestao (1999–2001).[7]
- José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (age 51) — Secretary-General of the PSOE (since 2000); Prime Minister of Spain (2004–2011); Member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid (2004–2011); President pro tempore of the Council of the European Union (2010); Leader of the Opposition of Spain (2000–2004); Member of the Congress of Deputies for León (1986–2004); Member of the PSOE Executive Commission (1997–2000); Secretary-General of the PSOE in the province of León (1988–2000).[9]
Endorsements
Candidates seeking to run were required to collect the endorsements of at least 10% of federal committee members and of between 20% and 30% of congress delegates.[6][10][11]
| Candidate | Federal committee | Delegates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % T | % V | Count | % T | % V | ||
| Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba | 58 | 23.20 | 66.67 | 286 | 29.92 | 49.91 | |
| Carme Chacón | 29 | 11.60 | 33.33 | 287 | 30.02 | 50.09 | |
| Luis Ángel Hierro | Eliminated (below 10%) | N/a | |||||
| Total | 87 | 573 | |||||
| Valid endorsements | 87 | 34.80 | 573 | 59.94 | |||
| Not endorsing | 163 | 65.20 | 383 | 40.06 | |||
| Total members / delegates | 250 | 956 | |||||
| Sources[12][13] | |||||||
Opinion polls
Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the candidate's colour. In the instance of a tie, the figures with the highest percentages are shaded. Polls show data gathered among PSOE voters/supporters as well as Spanish voters as a whole, but not among delegates, who were the ones ultimately entitled to vote in the congress election.
PSOE voters
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | .jpg) |
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Other /None |
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Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chacón | Rubalcaba | Bono | L. Aguilar | Madina | ||||||
| Congress election | 4 Feb 2012 | N/a[a] | 48.7 | 51.0 | – | – | – | 0.2 | N/a | 2.3 |
| Metroscopia/El País[p 1] | 4–5 Jan 2012 | ? | 21.0 | 44.0 | – | – | – | 22.0 | 13.0 | 23.0 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 2] | 27–29 Dec 2011 | ? | 38.2 | 50.4 | – | – | – | – | 11.4 | 12.2 |
| 33.7 | 35.3 | 11.0 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 8.4 | 1.6 | |||
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 3][p 4] | 27 Nov 2011 | ? | 27.4 | 43.1 | 8.1 | – | – | 21.4 | 15.7 | |
Spanish voters
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | |
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Other /None |
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Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chacón | Rubalcaba | Bono | L. Aguilar | Madina | López | ||||||
| Metroscopia/El País[p 1] | 4–5 Jan 2012 | 1,000 | 18.0 | 26.0 | – | – | – | – | 36.0 | 20.0 | 8.0 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 2] | 27–29 Dec 2011 | 800 | 37.2 | 38.5 | – | – | – | – | – | 24.3 | 1.3 |
| 22.4 | 26.0 | 14.4 | 4.1 | 3.2 | – | 3.9 | 26.0 | 3.6 | |||
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 3][p 4] | 27 Nov 2011 | ? | 19.5 | 21.2 | 15.8 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 36.6 | 1.7 | |
Delegate estimations
| Source | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Delegates | Percentage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Other /None /Unknown |
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Other /None /Unknown | ||||
| Chacón | Rubalcaba | Chacón | Rubalcaba | ||||||
| Congress election | 4 Feb 2012 | 956 | 465 | 487 | 4 | 48.6 | 50.9 | 0.4 | |
| Chacón's campaign[14][15] | 3 Feb 2012 | 924[b] | 501 | 421 | 2 | 54.2 | 45.6 | 0.2 | |
| Rubacaba's campaign[14] | 3 Feb 2012 | 924[b] | 413 | 506 | 5 | 44.7 | 54.8 | 0.5 | |
| Chacón's campaign[16] | 23 Jan 2012 | 956 | 488 | 360 | 108 | 51.0 | 37.7 | 11.3 | |
| Rubacaba's campaign[16][17] | 23 Jan 2012 | 956 | 390 | 540 | 26 | 40.8 | 56.5 | 2.7 | |
| Chacón's campaign[18] | 20 Jan 2012 | 786[c] | 416 | 290 | 80 | 52.9 | 36.9 | 10.2 | |
| Rubacaba's campaign[18] | 20 Jan 2012 | 698[c] | 290 | 380 | 28 | 41.5 | 54.4 | 4.0 | |
Results
| Candidate | SG | Executive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba | 487 | 51.05 | 723 | 81.14 | |
| Carme Chacón | 465 | 48.74 | Withdrawn | ||
| Blank ballots | 2 | 0.21 | 168 | 18.86 | |
| Total | 954 | 891 | |||
| Valid votes | 954 | 99.90 | 891 | 99.11 | |
| Invalid votes | 1 | 0.10 | 8 | 0.89 | |
| Votes cast / turnout | 955 | 99.90 | 899 | 94.04 | |
| Not voting | 1 | 0.10 | 57 | 5.96 | |
| Total delegates | 956 | 956 | |||
| Sources[19][20][21][22] | |||||