The People's Party (PP) held its 16th national

congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

from 20 to 22 June 2008, to renovate its governing bodies—including the post of president, which amounted to that of

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

—and establish the

party platform A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...

and policy until the next congress. It saw

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

being re-elected unopposed for a second term as party president, with 84.2% of the delegate vote in the congress (2,187 votes) and 15.8% of blank ballots (409).

Overview

The congress of the PP was the party's supreme body, and could be of either ordinary or extraordinary nature, depending on whether it was held following the natural end of its term or due to any other exceptional circumstances not linked to this event. Ordinary congresses were to be held every three years and called at least two months in advance of their celebration. Extraordinary congresses had to be called by a two-thirds majority of the

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

at least one-and-a-half month in advance of their celebration, though in cases of "exceptional urgency" this deadline could be reduced to 30 days. The president of the PP was the party's head and the person holding the party's political and legal representation, and presided over its board of directors and executive committee, which were the party's maximum directive, governing and administration bodies between congresses. The election of the PP president was based on an indirect system, with party members voting for delegates who would, in turn, elect the president. Any party member was eligible for the post of party president, on the condition that they were up to date with the payment of party fees and were proposed by at least 20% of congress delegates.

Timetable

The key dates are listed below (all times are CEST. Note that the

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use

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(

UTC+1 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time * West Africa Time * Western European Summer Time **Brit ...

) instead): *31 March: Official announcement of the congress. *21–22 April: Election of congress delegates. *20–22 June: Party congress.

Candidates

Declined

The individuals in this section were the subject of speculation about their possible candidacy, but publicly denied or recanted interest in running: File:Esperanza Aguirre 2008b (cropped).jpg, File:Juan Costa 2007b (cropped).jpg, File:Ruiz Gallardón 2005.jpg, File:Rodrigo Rato 2004 (cropped).jpg, * Esperanza Aguirre (age ) — President of the PP of the Community of Madrid ; President of the Community of Madrid ; Member of the Assembly of Madrid ; Spokesperson of the People's Group in the Assembly of Madrid ;

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

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;

President of the Senate of Spain The president of the Senate is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Spanish Senate, the upper house of Spain's Cortes Generales. It is the fourth authority of the country after the King of Spain, Monarch (Head of State), the Prime M ...

; Minister of Education and Culture of Spain ; First Deputy Mayor of Madrid ; Spokesperson of the People's Group in Madrid ; City Councillor of Madrid . * Juan Costa (age ) — Member of the Congress of Deputies for Castellón ; Minister of Science and Technology of Spain ; Secretary of State of Trade and Tourism of Spain ; President of the Spanish Tax Agency ; Secretary of State of Finance of Spain . * Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (age ) — Mayor of Madrid ; City Councillor of Madrid ; President of the Community of Madrid ; Member of the Assembly of Madrid ; Spokesperson of the People's Parliamentary Group in the Senate ;

appointed by the

Assembly of Madrid The Assembly of Madrid or Madrid Assembly () is the Unicameralism, unicameral autonomous legislature of the Autonomous Community of Madrid since the approval of the Madrid Charter of Autonomy in 1983. It is elected every four years during the S ...

; Spokesperson of the People's Group in the Assembly of Madrid ; Vice President of AP ; Secretary-General of AP . *

Rodrigo Rato Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo (born 18 March 1949) is a businessman and politician who served in the Council of Ministers of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He also served as the ninth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 ...

(age ) — Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund ; First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain ; Deputy Secretary-General of the PP ; Member of the Congress of Deputies for

; Second Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of Spain ; Minister of Economy of Spain ;

Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain The second deputy prime minister of Spain, officially Second Vice President of the Government of Spain (), is a senior member of the Government of Spain. The office is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Ministe ...

; Minister of Economy and Finance of Spain ; Spokesperson of the People's Parliamentary Group in the Congress ; Member of the Congress of Deputies for

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

Endorsements

Candidates seeking to run were required to collect the endorsements of at least 20% of congress delegates.

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.

PP voters

Spanish voters

Results

References

Opinion poll sources
Other
{{DEFAULTSORT:PP congress, 2008 2008 conferences 2008 elections in Spain 2008 political party leadership elections June 2008 in Spain

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Uncontested elections