SPAIN: Alfredo Rubalcaba's Socialist Party punished in polls by ongoing economic crisis

Record ID: 402619

  • Title: SPAIN: Alfredo Rubalcaba's Socialist Party punished in polls by ongoing economic crisis
  • Date: 16th November 2011
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 14, 2011) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC AT MADRID'S PASEO DE LA CASTELLANA PHOTO OF RUBALCABA NEXT TO SOCIALIST PARTY PLACARD READING (SPANISH): 'FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT' PEOPLE CROSSING STREET SOCIALIST PARTY PLACARDS ALONG PASEO DE LA CASTELLANA PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MADRID RESIDENT, MARIA AGUADO, SAYING: "I think he is a very
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain, Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVADI87QHCYJMED99X69OAHNUQE0
  • Story Text: Former track sprinter, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spain's Socialist Party candidate for Prime Minister, faces the race of his life as he tries to catch conservative opponent Mariano Rajoy who leads the polls ahead of Sunday's (November 20) general election.
    Rubalcab has faced a tough election campaign as he tries to attract disappointed Spaniards who see him as the continuation of Zapatero's government.
    An articulate former interior minister and deputy premier, Rubalcaba is one of Spain's most respected politicians. And as a youth clocked 10.9 seconds for the 100-metres dash.
    But, while his approval rating is as high as Rajoy's, or higher in some polls, voters do not see him as the best manager for the country's economic woes.
    Polls show Rajoy's People's Party (PP) are due to win by a country mile after Europe's highest unemployment rate, austerity measures and a persistent economic crisis have battered the Socialists' standings.
    Rubalcaba says he is aware of his party's mistakes.
    "It might be that we have done something wrong...or at least, a few things wrong. And if we look back, like in any other human situation, there are things that we would like to have done differently," he said during a recent campaign rally at the Spanish Basque capital of Vitoria.
    "But it is a matter of pride for us to say that in the middle of the storm, we have maintained our solidarity principles," he added.
    With Rubalcaba's individual ratings higher than Rajoy's, some PP members privately admit that he is a tough opponent and it will be a close race.
    At the age of 60, Rubalcaba is 10 years older than Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who called polls for Nov. 20, before his four-year term was due to expire in March 2012.
    Bald and bearded, Rubalcaba was seen as the party's safest bet as one of Spain's highest-rated politicians who won popularity for cracking down on the Basque guerrilla group ETA, which declared an end to the armed struggle in October. His achievements on the war against ETA have gained him a lot of popularity among Spaniards.
    "I think he is a very solid candidate who has a lot of experience and who has shown his ability to to a good job," said Madrid resident Maria Aguado, speaking to Reuters.
    He also had the tough job of chief government spokesman for Zapatero's administration as unemployment soared and austerity was imposed to avoid Spain becoming drawn into the euro zone debt crisis.
    He is convinced that Spain's main problems come from an European crisis.
    "We have to ask the European Union to make an effort and we wave to ask the European Union's richest countries to change their policy. They need to grow because their growth will bust our growth. We need to ask Germany and France for a bigger effort. We need to ask those countries who are capable to make bigger efforts, to bust the Eurozone's economy," he said.
    Zapatero announced in April he would not seek a third term as voters shunned the Socialists under his leadership, as many struggled with towering household debt and one in five were unemployed.
    But although he has an opponent widely considered to be uncharismatic, Rubalcaba has struggled to differentiate himself from his unpopular former boss and Rajoy's restrained campaign has benefited from the Socialists' mistakes.
    "He is just the continuation of the same we have had so far," Madrid resident Gonzalo Perez said.
    Born in northern Spain, Rubalcaba is a chemist who has lectured at Spanish and foreign universities and listens to classical music on his iPod.
    A Real Madrid football fan, Rubalcaba is renowned as a tactician with a sharp eye for detail. Among Spain's most experienced politicians, he inspires respect in political circles thanks to his agile parliamentary rhetoric, at times as entertaining as it can be vicious.
    "I have a very high opinion of Mr. Rubalcaba but he is not terribly popular within his own party. In fact he hasn't been elected leader of the party. He was directly appointed by his predecessor. And, so I think he is in a very weak position," Political analyst Charles Powell told Reuters Television.
    "He is tinted by association because he has been a very prominent member of the Zapatero government. So, it is very difficult to see him as a force for change, as someone who really would be credible as a leader in a time of crisis," Powell added.
    Rubalcaba is also linked to the murkier periods of Socialist history, a weakness his adversaries sometimes seize upon.
    Rubalcaba acted as minister in charge of communication during an investigation into the dirty war waged by state officials against suspected ETA members in the 1980s.
    The then interior minister and head of state security were jailed in the scandal over the GAL death squad.
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