Zapatero likely to face leadership challenge before next year's general election after drubbing at regional and municipal polls
Spain's prime minister José Luís Rodriguez Zapatero is battling to keep control of his Socialist party (PSOE) after a drubbing at municipal elections highlighted growing discontent over his decision to impose austerity measures and spending cuts.
The collapse of the Socialist vote at the weekend election allowed the conservative opposition People's party (PP) to secure a 10 percentage-point win over Zapatero's party, and has provoked rebellion among some socialists who now see Zapatero as unfit to lead.
Zapatero had already said he would not stand as the Socialist party candidate for prime minister at the next general election, which is due by the end of March. But he wants to remain party leader, not least to oversee a process of internal primaries by which the party would choose a new candidate.
But a call from Patxi López – the respected socialist head of the Basque regional government – to hold an emergency conference to elect a new leader could see Zapatero effectively ousted by his own party.
If that were to happen it would be difficult for him to continue as prime minister, and could trigger an early general election. PP leader Mariano Rajoy, who has repeated calls for a snap election, would almost certainly emerge as Spain's new prime minister.
Defence minister Carme Chacón today ruled herself out as a candidate if primaries are to be held, leaving deputy prime minister Alfrédo Perez Rubalcaba, 59, as the sole probable candidate.
Chacón, 40, a rising star in the Socialist party, said she had originally planned to present her candidacy, but now wanted to prevent further splits.
Further internal battling "places at risk the unity of the party, the image of the prime minister and even the stability of the government," she said.
It was not clear whether Chacón's decision would make López, seen as a Rubalcaba supporter, desist from his calls for a party conference.
Spanish commentators immediately suggested Chacón had been the victim of an ambush by Rubalcaba, who could now become candidate without facing either primaries or a party conference.
A decision on what PSOE will do is due at what ought to be a tense meeting of its federal committee on Saturday.
Analysts said Zapatero's economic U-turn last May – when he introduced strict deficit-cutting measures – had caused the low turnout among left-wing voters.
Ignacio Sanchez-Cuencá, of Madrid's Juan March Foundation, said many on the left were dismayed by Zapatero's change of direction. "People see [PSOE] are not pursuing the policies they were elected on."
Lopez has called on the Socialist party to rediscover their left-wing identity.
"We have had the weakest results in our recent history, and we must begin to reflect seriously … to correct mistakes and define, above all, a new direction." He said the party needed to "revitalise its left-wing values".
Protesters occupying Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square and other cities across Spain are now trying to draw up a specific set of demands that a new socialist project would likely have to take into account.
They said they planned to produce proposals for electoral reform, greater government transparency, measures to punish political corruption and an effective separation of powers in Spain.