2012 PSOE federal party congress

2012 PSOE federal party congress

←  2008 3−5 February 2012 2014  →
956 delegates in the Federal Congress Plurality of delegates needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout	Secretary-General: 955 (99.9%) Executive: 899 (94.0%)
Candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Carme Chacón Blank ballots Delegate vote 487 (51.0%) 465 (48.7%) 2 (0.2%) Executive 723 (81.1%) Withdrew 168 (18.9%)
Secretary before election José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Elected Secretary Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) held its 38th federal congress in Seville from 3 to 5 February 2012, to renovate its governing bodies and establish the party's main lines of action and strategy until the next congress.

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] [3]}

Timetable

The key dates are listed below (all times are CET): ^[4]

• 26 November: Official announcement of the congress.
• 8 January: Federal committee endorsement submission.
• 9–15 January: Election of congress delegates.
• 3–5 February: Federal congress.

Candidates

Candidate			Notable positions	Announced	Ref.
Candidates who met endorsement requirements and were officially proclaimed to contest the party congress.
		Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (age 60)	Member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid (1996–2004 and since 2011) Member of the PSOE Executive Commission (since 2008) First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain (2010–2011) Spokesperson of the Government of Spain (1993–1996 and 2010–2011) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Cádiz (2008–2011) Minister of the Interior of Spain (2006–2011) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Cantabria (2004–2008) Spokesperson of the Socialist Parliamentary Group of the Congress (2004–2006) Secretary of Communication of the PSOE (1997–2000) Minister of the Presidency of Spain (1993–1996) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Toledo (1993–1996) Minister of Education and Science of Spain (1992–1993) Secretary of State of Education of Spain (1988–1992) Secretary-General for Education of Spain (1986–1988) Director-General for University Education of Spain (1985–1986)	29 December 2011	[5]
		Carme Chacón (age 40)	Member of the PSOE Executive Commission (since 2008) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Barcelona (since 2000) Minister of Defence of Spain (2008–2011) Minister of Housing of Spain (2007–2008) Secretary of Culture of the PSOE (2004–2008) First Vice President of the Congress of Deputies (2004–2007) Secretary of Education, Universities, Culture and Research of the PSOE (2000–2004) First Deputy Mayor of Esplugues de Llobregat (1999–2003) City Councillor of Esplugues de Llobregat (1999–2003)	7 January 2012	[6]
Candidates who announced an intention to run, but failed to qualify due to not meeting endorsement requirements.
		Luis Ángel Hierro (age 48)	Member of the Congress of Deputies for Seville (2004–2007)	8 January 2012	[7]

Declined

The individuals in this section were the subject of speculation about their possible candidacy, but publicly denied or recanted interest in running:

• 
  Emiliano García-Page
• 
  Tomás Gómez
• 
  Eduardo Madina
• 
  José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

• 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). ^[8]
• 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). ^[9]
• 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). ^[8]
• 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). ^[10]

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. ^{[7] [11] [12]}

Summary of candidate endorsement results

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%)			—
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 [3] [13] [14]

Endorsements by committee members Rubalcaba   66.67% Chacón   33.33%

Endorsements by delegates Chacón   50.09% Rubalcaba   49.91%

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						Other /None	?	Lead
			Chacón	Rubalcaba	Bono	López Aguilar	Madina
Congress election	4 Feb 2012	— [a]	48.7	51.0	–	–	–	0.2	—	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							Other /None	?	Lead
			Chacón	Rubalcaba	Bono	López 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
					Other /None /Unknown				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 [15] [16]	3 Feb 2012	924 [b]	501	421	2		54.2	45.6	0.2
Rubacaba's campaign [15]	3 Feb 2012	924 [b]	413	506	5		44.7	54.8	0.5
Chacón's campaign [17]	23 Jan 2012	956	488	360	108		51.0	37.7	11.3
Rubacaba's campaign [17] [18]	23 Jan 2012	956	390	540	26		40.8	56.5	2.7
Chacón's campaign [19]	20 Jan 2012	786 [c]	416	290	80		52.9	36.9	10.2
Rubacaba's campaign [19]	20 Jan 2012	698 [c]	290	380	28		41.5	54.4	4.0

Results

Summary of the 4–5 February 2012 congress 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 [20] [21] [22]

Vote by delegates (Secretary-General) Rubalcaba   51.05% Chacón   48.74% Blank ballots   0.21%

Vote by delegates (Executive Commission) Rubalcaba   81.14% Blank ballots   18.86%

Notes

1. PSOE delegates.
2. Does not include delegates from Europe, the Americas and the JSE.
3. Partial count.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. Garea, Fernando (7 January 2012). "La mayoría apoya los recortes pero rechaza la subida de impuestos". El País (in Spanish).
2. "Los jóvenes prefieren a Chacón para liderar el PSOE y los mayores a Rubalcaba". La Voz Libre (in Spanish). 3 January 2012.
3. "Los votantes del PSOE prefieren a Rubalcaba". e-Notícies (in Spanish). 27 November 2011.
4. "Una encuesta "agridulce" para Rubalcaba y Chacón con Bono al fondo". El Semanal Digital (in Spanish). 27 November 2011. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.

Other

1. "Zapatero convoca un congreso ordinario en la primera semana de febrero". PSOE (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
2. "Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba elegido Secretario General del PSOE". PSOE (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
3. Lozano, Carles. "Partido Socialista Obrero Español. Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, P.Socialista de Euskadi E.E., Partido Socialista Popular, PSOE histórico". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2023.
4. "El Comité Federal convoca el 38º Congreso Federal del PSOE". PSOE (in Spanish). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
5. "Rubalcaba se rodea de caras nuevas en su presentación como candidato". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
6. Viúdez, Juana (7 January 2012). "Chacón pide al PSOE que huya del inmovilismo y de la incoherencia". El País (in Spanish). Olula del Río. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
7. "Rubalcaba y Chacón logran los avales necesarios del Comité Federal para convertirse en "precandidatos"" (in Spanish). Europa Press. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
8. Gorriarán, Ramón (26 November 2011). "El PSOE llega fragmentado al comité federal que convocará su 38 Congreso". Diario Sur (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
9. Garat, Ketty (25 November 2011). "El PSOE se prepara para su primera batalla tras el desastre electoral". Diario Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2022.
10. Toribio, Beatriz (2 April 2011). "Zapatero se va: anuncia que no se presentará a la reelección en 2012". La Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 March 2022.
11. López Alba, Gonzalo (26 November 2011). "El PSOE repetirá el modelo de congreso que aupó a Zapatero". Público (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2022.
12. Pascual Bueno 2016, p. 149.
13. "Rubalcaba y Chacón consiguen los avales para optar a la secretaría general del PSOE". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 8 January 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
14. "PSOE.- Los equipos de Chacón y Rubalcaba entregan el máximo de avales, el 30 por ciento cada uno" (in Spanish). Madrid: Europa Press. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
15. "Atribución de delegados del PSOE según los propios candidatos". El País (in Spanish). 3 February 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
16. Ríos, Pere; Planelles, Manuel (3 February 2012). "Unidos en la discrepancia". El País (in Spanish). Seville. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
17. Merino, Juan Carlos (23 January 2012). "La igualdad entre Rubalcaba y Chacón ahonda la división territorial del PSOE". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2021.
18. "Rubalcaba dice aventajar a Chacón en hasta 150 delegados". Expansión (in Spanish). EFE. 22 January 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
19. Garea, Fernando (20 January 2012). "La incertidumbre se apodera del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
20. Benito, Roberto; Sánchez, Manuel (4 February 2012). "Rubalcaba, nuevo líder del PSOE por 22 votos". El Mundo (in Spanish). Seville. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
21. "La ejecutiva de Rubalcaba recibe el respaldo del 80,4% de los delegados". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
22. "Partido Socialista Obrero Español, Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, P.Socialista de Euskadi E.E., Partido Socialista Popular, PSOE histórico". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2021.

Bibliography

• Pascual Bueno, Ernesto M. (2016). Selección de Líderes y Candidatos a la Presidencia del Gobierno (1976-2016). "El jardín secreto del PSOE" (PDF) (PhD) (in Spanish). Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.