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.

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.

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.

Timetable The key dates are listed below (all times are CET):

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 Proclaimed Candidates who met endorsement requirements and were officially proclaimed to contest the party congress. Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba(age ) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid Member of the PSOE Executive Commission First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Spokesperson of the Government of Spain Member of the Congress of Deputies for Cádiz Minister of the Interior of Spain Member of the Congress of Deputies for Cantabria Spokesperson of the Socialist Parliamentary Group of the Congress Secretary of Communication of the PSOE Minister of the Presidency of Spain Member of the Congress of Deputies for Toledo Minister of Education and Science of Spain Secretary of State of Education of Spain Secretary-General for Education of Spain Director-General for University Education of Spain 29 December 2011 Carme Chacón(age ) Member of the PSOE Executive Commission Member of the Congress of Deputies for Barcelona Minister of Defence of Spain Minister of Housing of Spain Secretary of Culture of the PSOE First Vice President of the Congress of Deputies Secretary of Education, Universities, Culture and Research of the PSOE First Deputy Mayor of Esplugues de Llobregat City Councillor of Esplugues de Llobregat 7 January 2012 Failed to qualify Candidates who announced an intention to run, but failed to qualify due to not meeting endorsement requirements. Luis Ángel Hierro(age ) Member of the Congress of Deputies for Seville 8 January 2012

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 (age ) — Senator appointed by the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha ; Mayor of Toledo ; City Councillor of Toledo ; Secretary-General of the PSCM–PSOE in the province of Toledo ; Second Vice President of the Regional Government of Castilla–La Mancha ; Member of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha for Toledo ; Minister of Institutional Relations of Castilla–La Mancha ; Minister-Spokersperson of Castilla–La Mancha ; Spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha ; Minister of Social Welfare of Castilla–La Mancha ; Minister of Public Works of Castilla–La Mancha ; Deputy Mayor for Celebrations of Toledo . Tomás Gómez (age ) — Senator appointed by the Assembly of Madrid ; Spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Assembly of Madrid ; Member of the Assembly of Madrid ; Secretary-General of the PSM–PSOE ; Mayor of Parla ; City Councillor of Parla . Eduardo Madina (age ) — Secretary-General of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Congress ; Member of the PSOE Executive Commission ; Member of the Congress of Deputies for Biscay ; City Councillor of Sestao . José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (age ) — Secretary-General of the PSOE ; Prime Minister of Spain ; Member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid ; President pro tempore of the Council of the European Union ; Leader of the Opposition of Spain ; Member of the Congress of Deputies for León ; Member of the PSOE Executive Commission ; Secretary-General of the PSOE in the province of León .

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.

+ Summary of candidate endorsement results Candidate Federal committee Delegates Count Count 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 colspan="3" colspan="3" 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

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 Congress election 4 Feb 2012 48.7 51.0 – – – 0.2 2.3 Metroscopia/El País 4–5 Jan 2012? 21.0 44.0 – – – 22.0 13.0 23.0 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 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 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 Metroscopia/El País 4–5 Jan 2012 1,000 18.0 26.0 – – – – 36.0 20.0 8.0 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 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 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 Congress election 4 Feb 2012 956 465 487 4 48.6 50.9 0.4 Chacón's campaign 3 Feb 2012 924 501 421 2 54.2 45.6 0.2 Rubacaba's campaign 3 Feb 2012 924 413 506 5 44.7 54.8 0.5 Chacón's campaign 23 Jan 2012 956 488 360 108 51.0 37.7 11.3 Rubacaba's campaign 23 Jan 2012 956 390 540 26 40.8 56.5 2.7 Chacón's campaign 20 Jan 2012 786 416 290 80 52.9 36.9 10.2 Rubacaba's campaign 20 Jan 2012 698 290 380 28 41.5 54.4 4.0

Results + Summary of the 4–5 February 2012 congress results Candidate Votes % Votes % Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba 487 51.05 723 81.14 Carme Chacón 465 48.74 colspan="2" 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

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography