Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP), which was cast out of government at the beginning of June after a string of corruption scandals, has shifted further to the right by choosing an outspokenly traditionalist MP as its new leader.
Pablo Casado, who served as the party’s communications vice-secretary and was also chief of staff to the former prime minister José María Aznar, was elected in a poll of PP members on Saturday.
He saw off a challenge from the more moderate former deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, winning 57.2% of the vote to her 42%.
Casado, 37, said he would not disappoint those who had backed him.
“Today, a new and ambitious stage in our future has begun,” he said after his victory. “The PP will try to win back the hearts of all Spaniards. We need to return to the core of Spanish society so that our work cannot be undone.”
The task, however, will not be easy. Casado’s predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, was forced from office two months ago after the socialist PSOE party seized on mounting anger over PP corruption to call a successful vote of no confidence.
Questions have also been raised about the some of Casado’s qualifications, after it emerged that the postgraduate degree he claims to hold from Harvard had in fact been earned by attending a four-day course in Madrid. He has also admitted that he was awarded a master’s degree in public regional law by a Spanish university despite not being required to attend classes or take exams.
The PP’s traditional place in Spanish politics has come under heavy attack from the Citizens party, which outflanked Casado’s party on the right at the height of the Catalan crisis and could become the country’s biggest rightwing party.
Marking out his territory on Saturday, Casado said the PP was the party “that defends life and the family”. He has criticised the new PSOE government’s plans to introduce a euthanasia law and said that abortion “is not a right”.
He has also ruled out negotiations with the pro-independence regional government of Catalonia over the unity of Spain and the country’s constitution.
In an interview with OKDiario, he said: “There’s nothing to negotiate and I think the recent past has shown that they always deceive you.”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, congratulated Casado on Twitter, wishing him luck “with the task ahead”.
