Francisco Javier Rojo Garcia (born 2 March 1949) is a Spanish socialist politician, from 2004 to 2011, he served as

President of the Spanish Senate The president of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Spanish Senate, the upper house of Spain's Cortes Generales. It is the fourth authority of the country after the Monarch (Head of State), the Prime Minister (Head of Government) and t ...

Early life

Rojo Garcia was born on 2 March 1949 in the city of a village of Burgos. He moved to

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in English) is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and of the provinces of Spain, province of Álava in northern Spain. I ...

when he was very young. A lithographer and graphic artist by trade he moved into politics in 1976, and rose quickly through the ranks of the PSE-EE (Basque Socialist Party). He is married, and has two daughters.

Political activity

He has been a member of the UGT (Universal Trade Union) since 1976, the year after he joined the PSE. In 1979 he was elected Provincial Councillor of Álava, a post he held until 1983. In the 1982 general election he was elected to the Congress for the constituency of Álava, he would be re elected in the elections of 1986 and 1989. In the 1993 general election he was elected Senator for the constituency of Álava, a position to which he was re-elected in the elections of

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

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 ...

. Since the victory of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

in the 2004 general election, he served as President of the Senate from 2004 to 2011. In 2008, for his second term, he was the only presidential candidate on the ballot and was elected by an absolute majority on the first vote, receiving 134 of the 253 votes cast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojo, Javier Living people 1949 births Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Presidents of the Senate of Spain Members of the 5th Senate of Spain People from Pamplona Politicians from Navarre Members of the 2nd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 3rd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 4th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 6th Senate of Spain Members of the 7th Senate of Spain Members of the 8th Senate of Spain Members of the 9th Senate of Spain