Gonzalez bows to calls to remain at party helm

Date: 21/12/1995

By Elizabeth Wise

SPANISH Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez ended months of speculation about his future this week by bowing to demands from his political party to lead them into the next general election.

The executive committee of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) agreed unanimously on Monday that Gonzalez's 20-year reign should continue and that he should stand for a fifth term in the elections to be held next March.

The decision must be confirmed tomorrow (22 December) by the party's federal committee, which groups PSOE officials from all of Spain's regions. But no one expects it to be reversed.

Gonzalez, who is 53 and has been plagued by financial and political scandals, has described 1995 as his own “annus horribilis” and said on several occasions that he would like a new figure to lead the party.

Even after his chosen successor, Foreign Minister Javier Solana, was picked earlier this month to be the new NATO secretary-general. The premier reportedly walked the halls at party headquarters looking for someone else to take over the reins.

But at the executive committee meeting this week, witnesses say party members virtually forced Gonzalez to stay on. A day before the meeting, the prime minister said: “It is a decision the party should take, in a debate in which I will express my opinion.” Afterwards, one observer commented: “He did not have a choice.”

Of the dozen people touted as possible successors, party members say no-one can rally the party the way Gonzalez can. Only a small group of 19 leftist intellectuals in the party had called on the prime minister to retire.

Opinion polls showed the opposition Partido Popular (PP), with its leader José María Aznar, ahead of the PSOE. But Gonzalez's decision to run for office again is expected to boost his party's standing in the polls, hit in part by the uncertainty over whom it would put forward as a candidate. Several surveys have said a PSOE ticket with Gonzalez would gather at least 5&percent; more votes than one without him.

Gonzalez is widely acknowledged to have run a successful EU presidency, which has almost eclipsed the domestic scandals following him. Whether that glow will last until next March remains to be seen.

Gonzalez is expected to name the date for elections during the Spanish parliament's last session of the year on 28 December.