Profiles of the General Election Candidates in Spain: PSOE, PP, Sumar, and Vox – Who Could Be the Next President?

Candidates for the general elections on 23-J

The Spaniards are summoned this Sunday to go to the polls to elect the next president of the Government. The candidates, who expected to hold these elections in December, have been forced to step on the accelerator in order to mobilize their electorate for the general elections. To better understand who could be the next tenant of the Moncloa, we review the professional career and personal life of the leaders of the PSOE, PP, Sumar and Vox.

The President of the Spanish Government and leader of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez (REUTERS)

Not far from Moncloa, Pedro Sánchez, the current Prime Minister, was born. The leader of the Socialists grew up in the Madrid neighborhood of Tetuán, where he lived until, after graduating in Economic and Business Sciences, he moved to the United States and Brussels. Sánchez married Begoña Gómez in 2006 and they are the parents of two daughters, Ainhoa ​​and Aitana, aged 18 and 16, respectively.

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His political beginnings date back to 2003, when he was barely 30 years old, when he ran on the PSOE lists in the municipal elections in Madrid. However, his political rise is marked by resignations: those of Elena Arnedo and Pedro Solbes led Sánchez to be a councilor in the Madrid City Council and, later, the rejection of Cristina Narbona made him Nuclear Safety Advisor. However, the golden moment for Sánchez’s political career came in 2014, after the resignation of Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba: the militancy wrapped up a young Sánchez who became his successor.

The president and socialist candidate is confident of victory next Sunday.

But, there, Sánchez’s journey had only just begun. From his own party they did not make things easy for him and, in addition, he had to face an emerging Podemos, whose popularity began to rise like foam. It was not until 2018, after the motion of no confidence in Mariano Rajoy, when Sánchez became Prime Minister of Spain for the first time.

The leader of the Popular Party and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo (Europa Press)

Alberto Núñez Feijóo was born from a small Galician town in Orense, in the municipality of La Peroja. With his entire political life behind him, he reached the front line of the Popular Party in 2022, a position that he already rejected when the primaries were held after the departure of Mariano Rajoy.

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His personal life is marked by discretion, a virtue that was instilled in him since he was a child: he lived in his town until his family, making a great financial effort, sent him to study in León, at the Champagnat boarding school. Later, Feijóo returned to his native Galicia to study law at the University of Santiago de Compostela. He found love in a senior Inditex executive, Eva Cárdenas, with whom, in 2017, he became the father of his first (and only) child, Alberto.

His professional career has always been linked to public administration, since after taking out the oppositions of the Superior Body of the General Administration of the Xunta, he has worked as a technician for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry of the Xunta, he has worked as director of the National Institute of Health (Insalud) and as president of the State Post and Telegraph Society.

The Sumar candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Yolanda Díaz (Europa Press)

The current vice president of the Sánchez government and Minister of Labor, amalgamated a platform of leftist formations with the aim of reissuing the alliance with the PSOE.

Almost unknown before coming to the ministry in 2020 at the hands of Pablo Iglesias, this 52-year-old lawyer was born in La Coruña and her life has always been marked by politics. Her father, Suso Díaz, is a Galician historical union leader known for his involvement in the naval revolts of 1972. General Secretary of the CCOO in Galicia from 1989 to 2000.

After finishing university studies, he took several courses related to human resources and urban law. Once his education was finished, he worked as an intern in a law firm, but soon after, he dared to open his own in Ferrol.

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Sumar’s candidate trusts the comeback of the left-wing bloc.

In 2005 he agreed to coordinate the United Left in Galicia (United Left), in 2007 he was head of the list for Ferrol, a position that allowed him to be deputy mayor of the city. Four years after being elected national coordinator of Esquerda Unida, she ran again in the regional elections without much luck, since her formation did not achieve representation.

However, in the 2012 elections in Galicia, the group’s deputy spokesperson was commissioned in the Galician Parliament. Later, in 2015, she was presented by En Marea as number two in the province of A Coruña. Finally, in 2017 she left the position of national coordinator of Esquerda Unida after 12 years. Eva Solla was her replacement.

The leader of the Spanish Vox party, Santiago Abascal (Reuters)

Santiago Abascal was born in Bilbao in 1976 and after a life in the ranks of the PP he began his journey to capitalize on the vote of the dissatisfied with the popular right. With a degree in Sociology from the University of Deusto, he joined the Popular Party in 1996. Three years later he became a PP councilor in the Llodio City Council, in the province of Álava, and the following year he was appointed president of New Generations of the PP in the Basque Country.

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Santiago Abascal has once again attacked the left and the leader of the PP, Feijóo, before the elections.

In 2010, his Madrid godmother, Esperanza Aguirre, claimed him in Madrid and appointed him director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid. Shortly after, he left the PP and was appointed, in 2013, director of the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship. In 2014, with the departure of Alejo Vidal-Cuadras from the party presidency, Abascal was elected president of Vox.

Keep reading:

What did Pedro Sánchez, Yolanda Díaz, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal work on before they became politicians? Feijóo is playing three cards this Sunday: absolute majority, coalition or bump Who has more assets? These are the declared accounts of Pedro Sánchez, Yolanda Díaz, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal
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