Spanish conservative leader re-elected amid divisions
Spain's opposition conservatives re-elected their beleaguered leader on Saturday after months of acrimony over his refusal to step aside despite losing two general elections in a row.
By Agencies |
MADRID/SPAIN: Spain's opposition conservatives re-elected their beleaguered leader on Saturday after months of acrimony over his refusal to step aside despite losing two general elections in a row.
Mariano Rajoy, the 53-year-old boss of the center-right Popular Party and the loser in Spain's March 9 general election, got an earful from his political mentor and other critics before finally getting the nod at a party congress in the eastern city of Valencia.
Critics warned him to stay true to party principles by remaining tough against Basque nationalism, among other things, rather than stray to the political center to appear more moderate and woo new voters.
Rajoy was supported by 84 percent of the roughly 3,000 delegates at the convention, said Rita Barbera, mayor of Valencia and chairwoman of the convention.
The approval means Rajoy remains the party's president and its official candidate for the next general election, in 2012, at least for now, although whether he survives until then is another question.
There is another convention in 2011, and it will choose a leader via a U.S.-style primary election _ a first in a country that hand-picks its candidates without heeding the rank-and-file. Several rivals had flirted with challenging Rajoy for the party leadership, but in the end he was the only candidate at the weekend congress.
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In a speech before Saturday's vote, Rajoy appealed for party and national unity. ``That is what I want _ a party that serves all of Spain,'' he said. ``I don't think this party should change even a comma in its principles,'' he said.
Critics at the three-day convention that began Friday included Rajoy's political mentor, former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, who warned that the party should be careful not to alienate its traditional voters with its efforts to move to the center.
``We will not win if we think we can ignore those who already vote for us,'' Aznar said, ``because no one owns votes, and neither do we.''
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The comment was indirect but clear criticism of Rajoy, whom Aznar picked to be party leader in 2003 after having appointed him to a variety of senior ministerial posts. Party conservatives have said they fear Rajoy is abandoning the party's principles by hinting at a new openness to dialogue with nationalists who run the Basque region and who are planning an October referendum seen by some as a veiled step toward breaking away from Spain.
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The Popular Party was voted out of power after Islamic militants angry over Spain's support of the Iraq war bombed Madrid commuter trains in March 2004, killing 191 people. The party then failed to unseat the governing Socialists in elections on March 9 of this year, despite voter discontent over a weakening economy. Rajoy, the conservative candidate for prime minister both times, refused to step aside, insisting he wants to try again in 2012.
This triggered deep division within the party, plunging it into a crisis that the newspaper El Mundo has labeled ``the darkest 100 days in Popular (Party) history.'' El Mundo is among several conservative media outlets that turned against Rajoy when he declined to resign.
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