The
2011 general election had resulted in a
landslide victory for
Mariano Rajoy's
People's Party (PP), a result of the
financial crisis which had been hurting the country's economy since 2008. The ruling
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), amidst a climate of high unpopularity, was ousted from power with the worst election result since the first post-
Francoist electoral process in
1977. Then
prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had decided to stand down as PM candidate in early 2011 and as party leader once the quadrennial
party congress due for early 2012 was held.
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, PSOE candidate for the 2011 election and former
Deputy Prime Minister, was elected new Secretary-General in a tight fight against former
Minister of Defence Carme Chacón. However, as the new Rajoy's government was forced to pass new austerity measures and spending cuts, including a harsh labor reform and a very austere
state budget for 2012, the new Government's ratings plummeted in opinion polls as it met with widespread protests and two general strikes. Little over 6 months of government had seen support for the PP government plummet from 45% in the general election to 34% in mid-to late 2012 polls, the most support lost by a political party in its first months of government in the country's history. However, despite the PP's falling ratings, the PSOE found itself unable to regain lost support, suffering from the memory on Zapatero's last government and his economic management, as well as the emergence of major corruption scandals in both parties, regarding possible illegal financing on both
the People's Party and
the Socialist Party regional government of Andalusia. A series of negative regional election results throughout 2012, coupled with an internal crisis in 2013 and the threat of rupture from the party's Catalonia partner, the
Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), further weakened the PSOE, with Rubalcaba's leadership being put into question as his popularity ratings plummeted. The crisis was temporarily settled after the party's political conference in November 2013, with the question on the party's leadership being initially postponed for late 2014. After the
European Parliament election, 2014 culminated in a major election crash for the party, coupled with a spectacular rise in support for newly created
Podemos party, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba announced his intention not to run as his party's candidate for the 2015 general election and to have the party hold an extraordinary Congress for July 2014. ==Timetable==