Race to become the new face of Spanish Socialism gets underway

The race to lead the Socialist Party into a new era following the débâcle of November's elections has begun in earnest. The two contenders so far, Carme Chacón and Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, represent different generations and outlooks within a party that desperately needs to win back disenchanted voters after the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero failed to curb the economic crisis despite austerity measures that included controversial cuts to social entitlements.

In order to become "pre-candidates" to the position of secretary general, which is currently still held by Zapatero, contenders had to obtain endorsement from 10 percent of the members of the Socialist Federal Committee. Both Rubalcaba and Chacón made the cut, but the way in which they did so illustrates their own differences and the existing division within a party that recently witnessed a "battle of the manifestos" - a series of public documents either supporting or criticizing Zapatero's anti-crisis policies.

Rubalcaba, a 60-year-old veteran who served in the Socialist governments of Felipe González in the 1990s and Zapatero until last year, came up with 58 endorsements, significantly above the required amount of 24. The 40-year-old Chacón - photographs of whom as defense minister while pregnant made world news - stopped at 29 endorsements. One of her aides said that "this is not a competition; it's just about making the grade and when we had enough signatures, we simply stopped."

While Rubalcaba won support from a variety of Socialist figures, notably Basque premier Patxi López, he failed to secure endorsements in Catalonia, whose entire PSC party branch backed Chacón, herself a native Catalan. Yet a Metroscopia survey suggests that Socialist card-carrying members prefer Rubalcaba for their leader, while Socialist voters as a whole seem to favor a third, as yet unknown option.

Meanwhile Zapatero, whose successor will be elected at the party convention to be held in Seville in February, asked for "an exemplary debate" between both contenders and "a clean fight."

"I demand loyalty from the candidates because of what it means for the party's image," he added.