2012 PSOE leadership election

The 2012 PSOE leadership election—officially the 38th PSOE Federal Congress—was held between 3 and 5 February 2012 to elect a new party leadership in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). The congress was called after the PSOE suffered its worst defeat since the Spanish transition to democracy. 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]

2012 PSOE leadership election
3−5 February 2012
956 delegates in the 38th PSOE Federal Congress
Opinion polls
Turnout955 (99.9%)
 
Candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Carme Chacón
Party PSOE PSC
Delegate vote 487 465
Percentage 51.2% 48.8%
Secretary before election

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

 Elected Secretary

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

The result was a close race between the two main candidates to the General Secretariat: Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the party's candidate for the 2011 general elections and former First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Carme Chacón Piqueras, former Minister of Defense. The ballot saw Rubalcaba win by a 51% of the vote (487 votes) to the 49% won by Carme Chacón (465 votes), with 2 blank votes and 1 invalid vote.[2]

Candidates

Proclaimed
Candidate (name and age) Political offices Announced
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
(age 60)
Deputy in the Cortes Generales
for Madrid
(1996–2004 and since 2011)
 29 December 2011[3]
Carme Chacón
(age 40)
Deputy in the Cortes Generales
for Barcelona
(since 2000)
 7 January 2012[4]

Announced

On 8 January, Luis Ángel Hierro Recio—former party deputy in the Congress of Deputies between 2004 and 2007—tried to gather the required federal committee endorsements to be able to run in the party congress. However, he was unable to collect the required endorsements of at least 10% of federal committee members and was eliminated as a result.[5]

Candidate (name and age) Political offices Announced
Luis Ángel Hierro Recio
(age 48)
Deputy in the Cortes Generales
for Seville
(2004–07)		 8 January 2012[5]

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.[5]

Summary of January–February 2012 candidate endorsement results
Candidate Federal Committee:
8 January		 Delegates:
4 February
Count % T % V Count % T % V
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba 5823.2068.24 28629.9249.91
Carme Chacón 2710.8031.76 28730.0250.09
Luis Ángel Hierro Recio Eliminated (below 10%) N/A
Total 85 573
Valid endorsements 8534.00 57359.94
Not endorsing 16566.00 38340.06
Total members 250 956
Source(s): El Periódico de Catalunya, Europa Press
Endorsements by committee members
Rubalcaba
 
 68.24%
Chacón
 
 31.76%
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

Spanish voters

Results
Summary of the 4 February 2012 congress election results
Candidate Votes
# % T % V
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba 48751.0051.16
Carme Chacón 46548.6948.84
Invalid and blank ballots 30.31
Votes cast / turnout 95599.90
Abstentions 10.10
Total delegates 956
Source: Historia Electoral
Votes
Rubalcaba
 
 51.16%
Chacón
 
 48.84%

References
Opinion poll sources
  1. "La mayoría apoya los recortes pero rechaza la subida de impuestos". El País (in Spanish). 7 January 2012.
  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.
  5. "Rubalcaba es el candidato preferido". El País (in Spanish). 3 April 2011.
  6. "El 77% quiere nuevos candidatos". El País (in Spanish). 6 June 2010.
  7. "Clima Social de España (12ª oleada. Junio 2010)" (PDF). Metroscopia (in Spanish). 14 June 2010.
  8. "El 63% no quiere que Zapatero repita; la alternativa: Rubalcaba o Bono". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2 January 2010.
  9. "Encuesta Elecciones 2011". ABC (in Spanish). 1 May 2011.
  10. "Rubalcaba encabeza todas las encuestas tras el fin de Zapatero". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 3 April 2011.
  11. "Rajoy perdería también contra Rubalcaba y Chacón". Público (in Spanish). 2 April 2011.
  12. "La Sexta ya ve al PSOE ganador". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 2 April 2011.
Other
  1. "Zapatero convoca un congreso ordinario en la primera semana de febrero" (in Spanish). PSOE.es. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  2. "Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba elegido Secretario General del PSOE" (in Spanish). PSOE.es. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  3. "Rubalcaba se rodea de caras nuevas en su presentación como candidato". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  4. 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.
  5. "Rubalcaba y Chacón logran los avales necesarios del Comité Federal para convertirse en "precandidatos"". Europa Press (in Spanish). 8 January 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
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