PREVIEW: Spain's Socialists look to post-Zapatero era

By Sinikka Tarvainen Feb 2, 2012, 2:06 GMT

Madrid - Spanish Socialists will seek a new direction forward at a party congress this weekend, after suffering a crushing election defeat that toppled one of western Europe's last centre-left governments.

Nearly 1,000 party delegates will gather in the southern city of Seville to elect a new leader to succeed Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, prime minister from 2004 to 2011.

The leadership contest will pit a tough veteran, 60-year-old former interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, against former defence minister Carme Chacon, 41, who aspires to become the first woman to head the 133-year-old Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

Chacon and Rubalcaba are running neck-to-neck, making it difficult to predict which one will take the helm of the party at a particularly fraught time.

'Zapaterism' was marked by bold social reforms in Catholic Spain, such as homosexual marriage and a strong promotion of women's rights.

But towards the end of his second term, Zapatero was forced to call early elections after Spain was plunged into its most serious economic crisis in decades.

The Socialists suffered heavy defeats to the centre-right People's Party (PP) in regional elections in May and in parliamentary elections in November. The PP now governs 11 of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions and has an absolute majority in parliament.

Rubalcaba and Chacon, however, are seen by critics of the PSOE as offering little chance of a fresh start, since both held several ministerial posts under Zapatero.

Rubalcaba's supporters stress his contribution as interior minister to defeating the Basque separatist group ETA, which called off its campaign of bombings and shootings in October, putting an end to one of Spain's most serious problems, that had blighted the country for 43 years.

But the pragmatic politician also carries the stigma of having been defeated by PP leader and current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the November elections, in which Rubalcaba was the Socialist candidate to form a government.

Chacon, who offers a fresher and more dynamic image, has sought to distance herself from Zapatero's legacy by criticizing his austerity policies as too right-wing.

As defence minister, she made worldwide headlines by inspecting troops whilst heavily-pregnant.

Her critics say she has little ideological substance beyond feminism and traditional social-democracy.