The future of the Socialist Party

Following the official announcement on Saturday that the two candidates for the post of secretary general of the Socialist Party are Carme Chacón and Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the party's federal committee on Sunday approved the framework for the two to present their proposals at its congress in February. This approach will limit the extent to which the former defense and interior ministers can detail their agendas. This explains why, despite the fact that the party faces a challenge to its very existence as a credible alternative for a progressive government, the potential differences between the two are still more evident in terms of symbolic gestures and hints than in terms of clearly developed programs

One thing that the pair do have in common, albeit expressed in different ways, is the desire to correct the mistakes of the Zapatero years. This is inevitable after their party's defeat in the November elections, but it is being put forward more in terms of a return to the principles of social democracy rather than of any shift in ideology. This defensive approach can be seen not just in economic policy, but also in the notion of a united Spain. Rubalcaba's message returns to the idea of "a national party that holds Spain together," and that puts out "the same message everywhere," reflecting his awareness of the damage that the Socialist Party's involvement in the nationalist coalition that ran Catalonia until May had caused.

In response, Chacón announced her candidacy in the small village in Almeria where her father comes from, defining the Socialist Party as being "in every part of Spain, with its own accent," reflecting her support in her native Catalonia, as well as in Madrid, where the regional Socialist Party leader, Tomás Gómez, has made clear his opposition to Rubalcaba.

Differences on economic policy can also be observed between the two candidates, although for the moment they have not become a major issue. Rubalcaba's election campaign was based on an appeal to the middle classes; in turn, Chacón has hinted that she would take the party in a leftward direction. Similarly, there are discrepancies on the question of whether a "definitive" secretary general is being elected, as Chacón has suggested, or if a merely "transitional" leader is to be chosen, a position that would favor the older Rubalcaba.

Rubalcaba's supporters see him as a safe pair of hands, and someone who will keep the party on track at a time when it risks being sidelined definitively. The fact of the matter is that neither candidate, if chosen, should count on holding on to the leadership post for long. The reasons being, among others, that the party committee has established, with the consent of both candidates, that there will be open primaries - along the lines of the French system - to appoint the party's candidate for prime minister.

French-style primaries

Their respective chances in any future contest to run for the prime minister's job will depend on how they handle themselves as leader of the opposition at an extremely difficult time; the Popular Party not only has a majority in Congress, but runs the vast majority of the country's regional administrations. Similarly, the leader of the opposition will have to manage the difficult balancing act of supporting some measures and trying to block others at a time when millions of ordinary Spaniards face hardship, and the country is finding it difficult to raise money on the international markets.

A debate is needed. But the two candidates' ideas will only make sense if they can be argued convincingly and if they can be put into practice. The Socialist Party has just a few weeks to decide which ideas it supports, and who will lead it at a time when it faces a battle for its own political survival and for the future of the left in Spain.