2002 PSOE prime ministerial primary


A primary election was scheduled for Sunday, 6 October 2002, to elect the prime ministerial nominee of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party for the 2004 Spanish general election.
The introduction of the primary system to elect the PSOE nominee for the office of prime minister of Spain had been first tested in [1998 PSOE Prime Minister of Spain|prime ministerial primary|1998] and introduced in the party's statutes following the 2000 federal party congress, when José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was elected as new secretary-general. Primaries for the 2004 general election were first announced by Zapatero during a party event on 26 April 2001 and confirmed through new regulations approved in a party political conference in July, which also set new endorsement requirements for candidates intending to run. The PSOE leadership announced the formal start of the process in September 2002.
Zapatero was the only candidate fielded, securing the nomination by garnering all three ways of endorsement requirements available: support from both the executive and federal committees and the signatures of 67,940 party members, almost three times the required threshold. As a result, he was ratified as the party's prime ministerial nominee unopposed on 27 October 2002, with the primaries being left uncontested.

Background

The first experience in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party to elect a prime ministerial nominee through party primaries was in 1998, when Josep Borrell, a former public works minister, defeated Joaquín Almunia, then incumbent PSOE leader.
Borrell withdrew his candidacy in 1999 over a tax fraud scandal affecting two former aides, with Almunia then being appointed as candidate unopposed; he would go on to lose the 2000 Spanish general election, which the People's Party won by a landslide. This led to Almunia's resignation, prompting a party congress in July 2000 in which José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a deputy for León, emerged as the party's new secretary-general. The system to select the party's nominee to the post of prime minister was discussed in the aftermath of the 2000 general election, but internal divisions led to a final decision being postponed until the party congress or later.
During a party event on 26 April 2001, Zapatero announced that the PSOE prime ministerial candidate would be "democratically elected" and hinted at a primary election being held at some point, while remembering the Almunia–Borrell precedent and joking that "primaries give surprises". A political conference held in July 2001 saw the introduction in the party's statutes of the primary system for public and institutional offices.
The start of the primary process was announced by party president Manuel Chaves on 1 September 2002, after consultations with regional party leaders, with the timetable being approved in a federal committee meeting on 6 September. While Zapatero was widely predicted to be the sole candidate, the PSOE was intent on following due process to emphasize the democratic nature of the procedure, at a time when the ruling PP did not have successor for José María Aznar as prime ministerial nominee.

Overview

Procedure

Following its 2000 congress, the PSOE approved a party regulation governing public offices that included the election of candidates through a closed primary system. Primaries were established as mandatory to elect prime ministerial nominees, except when the party already held the office of prime minister, in which case a primary election would only be held if explicitly requested by a majority of members in the federal committee.
The primary election was organized on the basis of plurality voting. Voting comprised all members of the PSOE—including its regional branches—and the Socialists' Party of Catalonia. Candidates seeking to run were required to collect the endorsements of either at least 10% of party members, the federal committee as a body or a majority of members in the federal executive commission. In the event of only one candidate meeting this requirement, the primaries would be left uncontested with such candidate being elected unopposed.

Timetable

The key dates of the primary election procedure are listed below :
  • 6 September: Official announcement of the primary election; start of endorsement collection and candidacy submission periods.
  • 25 September: End of endorsement collection and candidacy submission periods at 3 pm.
  • 29 September: Official start of internal information campaign.
  • 5 October: Last day of internal information campaign.
  • 6 October: Primary election.

Endorsements

Zapatero sought to meet all three endorsement requirements, which he achieved by the deadline of 25 September.

Opinion polls

Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the candidate's colour. In the instance of a tie, the figures with the highest percentages are shaded. Polls show data gathered among PSOE voters/supporters as well as Spanish voters as a whole, but not among party members, who were the ones ultimately entitled to vote in the primary election.