September 2003

Aznar successor ratified - Mariano Rajoy is PP Candidate

2 September. President Aznar has named Vice-President Mariano Rajoy as successor and his nomination has been ratified by the national ejecutive and full board of the governing Partido Popular.

Obviously, the Partido Popular really believes in the democratic process! The party's selection process has clearly not been via an open contest of candidates, as most even right wing parties in Europe would follow. Nevertheless, in the first opinion poll by internet of Rajoy's possibilities of winning the election, over 70% selected Rajoy over Zapatero, the Socialist leader. BTW, Rajoy is pronounced like ahoy! with the 'R'at the beginning.

Rajoy now becomes General Secretary of the party, replacing Javier Arenas in this post and will now concentrate on preparing the manifesto and so on for the coming elections. Josep Piqué, minister of Science and Technology and former foreign minister, is also leaving the cabinet to concentrate on the lead up to the Catalan elections in November. He is the PP's candidate to preside the 'Generalitat'. Jordi Pujol, current Catalan president, is expected to announce the election date in the coming days. More soon!

Meanwhile... the Socialist party concluded on Saturday a major meeting to settle the disputes about regional policy. This has been a major point of conflict with the Partido Popular over the past weeks and months and it seems that the PSOE is now getting its act together as it faces the run up to next year's elections.

Sources: El Mundo, El País, TVE