38th Federal Congress of the PSOE

38th Federal Congress of the PSOE

← 2008 3−5 February 2012 2014 →

956 delegates in the federal congress
Plurality of delegates needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout955 (99.9%) (secretary)
899 (94.0%) (executive)
 
Candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Carme Chacón Blank ballots
Delegate vote 487 (51.0%) 465 (48.7%) 2 (0.2%)
Executive 723 (81.1%) Withdrew 168 (18.9%)

Secretary before election

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

Elected Secretary

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

The 38th Federal Congress of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party was held in Seville from 3 to 5 February 2012, to renovate the governing bodies of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and establish the party's main lines of action and strategy for the next leadership term. The congress was called after the PSOE suffered its worst defeat since the Spanish transition to democracy in the general election held on 20 November 2011. Previous secretary-general José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had announced in April the same year he would not stand for election to a third term as Prime Minister of Spain, announcing his intention to step down as party leader after a successor had been elected.[1]

The result was a close race between the two candidates to the party leadership: Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the party's candidate for the 2011 general election and former first deputy prime minister and interior minister, and former defence minister Carme Chacón. The ballot saw Rubalcaba win by a 51.0% of the delegate vote (487 votes) to the 48.7% won by Carme Chacón (465 votes), with 2 blank and 1 invalid ballots.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Zapatero convoca un congreso ordinario en la primera semana de febrero". PSOE (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba elegido Secretario General del PSOE". PSOE (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  3. ^ "Partido Socialista Obrero Español. Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, P.Socialista de Euskadi E.E., Partido Socialista Popular, PSOE histórico". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2023.