José María Aznar

José María Aznar López (born February 25, 1953, in Madrid, Spain) was President of the Spanish government from May 5 1996 to April 17 2004.

Politician

He studied law at the Complutense University, graduating in 1975, becoming a Spanish Tax Authority inspector in 1976. In 1977 he married Ana Botella. He joined the conservative People's Alliance (AP) in January 1979, months after his wife. In March he became the Secretary general of the party in La Rioja until 1980. In February 1981 he joined the AP's National executive committee. He became assistant Secretary general in February 1982, and then, on October 26, 1982 he was elected to the Parliament, representing Ávila. On June 22, 1985 he was elected to the presidency of the AP in Castile-Leon. On December 2, 1986 AP leader Manuel Fraga (a former minister in several of Franco's cabinets), resigned after fierce internal party fighting in the 5 months since their failure to dent the majority of the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Aznar was not considered senior enough to be a possible successor, and gave his support to the more right wing Miguel Herrero who lost to Fraga's choice Antonio Hernández Mancha, resulting in Aznar losing his assistant secretary general post. On June 10, 1987, having resigned his parliamentary seat, he was elected to the Cortes of Castile-León, where he was made Governor of this Autonomous Region. Two years later, Aznar was voted by the National executive Committee to be the new leader of his party, re-founded as Partido Popular (People's Party, or PP). He resigned the Castile-Leon presidence to fight and lose the general election to President Felipe González and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on October 29, though he came out of it with his reputation intact. With Fraga focused in the presidence of Galicia, Aznar confirmed his leadership of the PP at their X National Congress at the emd of March 1990. In November the PP moved from the Conservative group in the European Parliament to the more centrist and Christian Democratic European People's Party. On June 6, 1993 the PP again lost the general election, but improved on their previous performance with 34.8% of the vote, with PSOE losing its absolute majority and needing to form a pact with smaller parties in order to continue ruling. The result was a disappointment as the polls had predicted a PP victory. They did well in the 1994 European and 1995 local elections. On April 19, 1995, the Basque terrorist group ETA attempted to assassinate him.

Related Topics:
Complutense University - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - Ana Botella - People's Alliance - 1979 - La Rioja - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - October 26 - Parliament - Ávila - June 22 - 1985 - Castile-Leon - December 2 - 1986 - Manuel Fraga - Spanish Socialist Workers' Party - Antonio Hernández Mancha - June 10 - 1987 - Cortes - People's Party - Felipe González - October 29 - 1990 - European Parliament - Christian Democratic - European People's Party - June 6 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - April 19 - ETA - Assassinate

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