PP leader believes he will face Rubalcaba in next year's race

Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy said Sunday that he is confident that he will end up facing Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, instead of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in next year's general elections.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the Popular Party's national convention, Rajoy acknowledged that a lot of things could happen between now and next year. But he said it was safe to say that Rubalcaba will be the Socialist candidate.

Rajoy's supporters at the PP national convention, held over the weekend in Seville, were buoyed by the party's latest internal polls that show the PP is enjoying a large margin over the governing Socialists.

"Spain is thirsty for elections," Rajoy told cheering supporters, adding that the only thing "Spaniards were waiting for from the Socialists was the date [for general elections]. [...]We are going to receive the worst institutional, economic and social inheritance in the history of Spanish democracy."

He also acknowledged the need for reforms to the labor market, and education, financial and energy sectors, but didn't offer any specific plans.