PSOE seeks leader after crushing loss

Following the Socialists' catastrophic loss at the polls, their next priority is to look for a new leader who can re-strengthen the party and restore morale. Before Sunday, the battle to replace Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero seemed to be resolved, with all eyes looking to Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba to take over as secretary general.

But after the disastrous results ? the poorest showing for the Socialists since 1977 ? it appears many would-be candidates, including Rubalcaba, are now in a wait-and-see mode. The Socialist Party (PSOE) has never been in such a dire state. They have seen the past three years of Zapatero's pledges to create jobs and increase social spending evaporate before their very eyes. But after Sunday's elections, there isn't a single Socialist who dares to step forward and say that he or she has a better record.

Zapatero announced that he will call a meeting of the PSOE's federal committee on Saturday to set a date for the party's national convention should be held. The outgoing prime minister wants it to take place during the first week in February.

The Socialists only have one stronghold left in the country: the regional premiership in Andalusia. But, judging by the clean sweep the blue party made on Sunday in all its provinces except Seville, that too appears to be under threat of swaying to the PP in next March's regional poll.

But by then, the Socialists will likely have their new leader in place, and no one is predicting that there will be any surprises.

"The most logical choice, if he wants it, would be for Rubalcaba to lead us on this part of the journey in the wilderness. He offers solidity and sufficient experience," says one Socialist leader. "Before Sunday, everyone thought that [Defense Minister] Carme Chacón, who was ready to compete in a primary that never took place, would use the good results coming out of Catalonia to announce her intentions to fight for the party's leadership. But after the results in Catalonia, where the Socialists lost a higher percentage of the vote than in any other part of Spain, Chacón doesn't appear to be in a position to fight for anything."

In fact, Chacón had her own plans for Sunday night, and for her future. The defense minister, who made a lot of party figures nervous this year when she said that Spain was ready for a female Catalan prime minister, had drafted a speech in both Spanish and Catalan that she had planned to read that evening. The contents were not only aimed at distancing herself from Zapatero and the rest of his team, but also to stress the importance of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and its lawmakers for the future of Spain. But the bust at the ballot box threw off her intentions. The PSC lost 10 deputies from the 25 Congress seats it won in 2008.

Meanwhile, Tomás Gómez, the leader of the Madrid Socialist Party (PSM), garnered one of the poorest showings among the Socialists in his bid to unseat Madrid regional premier Esperanza Aguirre in regional elections on May 22. The Madrid Socialists won just 36 seats in the regional government's parliament ? half the number the PP holds.

Gómez, who now talks like an influential party baron, was well aware that his future in the party would have been in question if Rubalcaba had fared better in Sunday's polls. But even so, Rubalcaba garnered 92,000 more votes from Madrileños than Gómez managed when he ran in last May's regional elections.

Another figure who was widely considered to be a favorable candidate to take over the reins from Zapatero was Patxi López. However, the Basque regional premier has told aides that he doesn't want a national party leadership position. López and his Basque Socialist Party (PSE) will soon be preparing for the regional race in the Basque Country, which will be held early 2013.

"The only thing that could derail Rubalcaba is for a young person to step in and sell the idea that after the disaster of November 20, the entire party apparatus needs reorganization," according to another Socialist official, who suggests that Eduardo Madina from Bizkaia could fit the bill. Madina, however, shrugged off any such suggestion on Tuesday.