Ramón Tamames Gómez (born 1 November 1933) is a Spanish economist and former politician. He was a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...

and the

City Council of Madrid The City Council of Madrid ( es, Ayuntamiento de Madrid) is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The City Council is composed by three bodies; the Mayor who leads the City Council an ...

in the early years after the Spanish transition to democracy. A long-term member of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

(PCE), he left in 1982 and founded the Progressive Federation (FP) and the United Left (IU). He left politics in 1989 after several months with the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS). In 2023, aged 89, he was proposed as a candidate for

prime minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

in a

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

tabled by Vox.

Biography

Tamames was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

as one of five children in a wealthy family in which his father was a surgeon. Suffering from

anaemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...

, he spent some of his early years with his grandparents in rural

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, ...

. His mother died by suicide when he was seven, due to her husband's alleged infidelities. He was educated at the Lycée Français de Madrid before obtaining degrees in law and economics in the city, concluding his studies at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

. He had three children with his wife, Carmen Prieto-Castro. Tamames joined the

(PCE) when it was still illegal in 1956. He entered their executive in 1976 and was elected to the

in the first democratic elections in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, he was elected to the

, again the first such democratic elections. The PCE formed a pact with the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in go ...

(PSOE), whose leader

Enrique Tierno Galván Enrique Tierno Galván (Madrid, 8 February 1918 – Madrid, 19 January 1986) was a Spanish politician, sociologist, lawyer and essayist, best known for being the Mayor of Madrid from 1979 to 1986, at the beginning of the new period of Spanish de ...

became mayor and Tamames his first deputy. He quit the PCE in 1981 due to disputes with leader

Santiago Carrillo Santiago José Carrillo Solares (18 January 1915 – 18 September 2012) was a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982. His role in the Paracuellos massacres during the Civil ...

, and in 1984 he established the Progressive Federation (FP). He helped establish the United Left (IU) and was elected to Congress again in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. In 1989 he left for the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) of former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

. He declined to stand for them in that year's election, and quit politics. In February 2023, aged 89, Tamames put himself forward to be an independent candidate for prime minister if a Vox-proposed

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in the government of

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

were successful. The motion failed on 22 March with 52 votes in favour (Vox plus former

Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

legislator Pablo Cambronero), 91 abstentions ( People's Party plus one independent) and 201 votes against.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamames, Ramon 1933 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Communist Party of Spain politicians United Left (Spain) politicians Democratic and Social Centre (Spain) politicians Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 3rd Congress of Deputies (Spain) First deputy mayors of Madrid Madrid city councillors (1979–1983) Madrid city councillors (1983–1987) Madrid city councillors (1987–1991)