Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Leader of the Opposition
In office 21 December 2011 – 26 July 2014
Monarch	Juan Carlos I (2011–14) Felipe VI (2014)
Prime Minister	Mariano Rajoy
Preceded by	Mariano Rajoy
Succeeded by	Pedro Sánchez
Secretary General of the PSOE
In office 4 February 2012 – 26 July 2014
President	José Antonio Griñán
Deputy	Elena Valenciano
Preceded by	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Succeeded by	Pedro Sánchez
First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office 21 October 2010 – 12 July 2011
Prime Minister	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded by	María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Succeeded by	Elena Salgado
Spokesperson of the Government of Spain
In office 21 October 2010 – 12 July 2011
Prime Minister	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded by	María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Succeeded by	José Blanco López
In office 13 July 1993 – 6 May 1996
Prime Minister	Felipe González
Preceded by	Virgilio Zapatero Gómez
Succeeded by	Francisco Álvarez Cascos
Minister of the Interior
In office 11 April 2006 – 12 July 2011
Prime Minister	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded by	José Antonio Alonso
Succeeded by	Antonio Camacho Vizcaíno
Chairman of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the Congress of Deputies
In office 14 March 2004 – 11 April 2006
Preceded by	Jesús Caldera
Succeeded by	Diego López Garrido
Minister of the Presidency
In office 13 July 1993 – 6 May 1996
Prime Minister	Felipe González
Preceded by	Virgilio Zapatero Gómez
Succeeded by	Francisco Álvarez Cascos
Minister of Education and Science
In office 24 June 1992 – 12 July 1993
Prime Minister	Felipe González
Preceded by	Javier Solana
Succeeded by	Gustavo Suárez Pertierra
Personal details
Born	Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba 28 July 1951 Solares, Spain
Political party	PSOE
Spouse(s)	Pilar Goya (1979–)
Alma mater	Complutense University of Madrid

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (Spanish pronunciation: [alˈfɾeðo ˈpeɾeθ ruβalˈkaβa]; born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish politician who was General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 2012 to 2014. He served in the government of Spain as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011; in addition, he was First Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2011. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid.

Life and career

He was born in Solares village, municipality of Medio Cudeyo, in Cantabria autonomous community. He obtained a doctorate in chemistry at Complutense University in Madrid, where he went on to become a professor of chemistry, specialising in reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. He represented Toledo in Congress from 1993 to 1996, Madrid from 1996 until 2004, Cantabria from 2004 to 2008 and, despite not being Andalusian, was put forward for the safe parliamentary seat of Cádiz in the 2008 election, which he won.

Minister of Education and Science

Rubalcaba was appointed Minister of Education and Science in 1992 by President Felipe González. The following year he was made Minister of the President's office and Relationships with Congress, an office he had to abandon in 1996 when his party lost the elections. In the successful campaign of 2004 he worked as chief strategist.

Majority leader

When José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero formed the new government, Rubalcaba was appointed Majority leader until 2006 when he succeeded José Antonio Alonso as Interior Minister. On October 2010 he added to his functions the position of First Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesperson of the government.

Prime Ministerial candidate

As it became assumed that President Zapatero was not going to seek reelection he became favorite to succeed him with Carme Chacón as his only rival in the primaries. Nevertheless, in May 2011, Chacón announced that she was withdrawing from the race and in June the Party announced that no other candidate had filed and Rubalcaba became the PSOE's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2011 general elections.^[1] On 8 July 2011, he resigned from his duties in the government in order to focus on the general election campaign, which he lost getting the worst results in PSOE's history.

He filed to succeed José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as PSOE's General Secretary and won the vote, held in February 2012. He received 487 votes against 465 for Carme Chacón.^[2]

Stepping down

Pedro Sánchez was elected to succeed him as party leader on 13 July 2014.

References

1. Exit plan:The Socialists contemplate who would be their best new leader The Economist 7 April 2011
2. elperiodicodeaqui.com http://www.elperiodicodeaqui.com/noticia/alfredo-perez-rubalcaba-gana-carme-chacon-por-22-votos-diferencia/15251

External links

• Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Biography (Spanish)
• Listo para el gran sprint. El Pais article