39th PSOE Federal Congress

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21 May 2017 (primary)
16−18 June 2017 (congress)

988 delegates in the 39th PSOE Federal Congress

Opinion polls

Registered

187,949

Turnout

149,951 (79.8%)


Candidate	Pedro Sánchez	Susana Díaz	Patxi López
Party	PSOE	PSOE	PSOE
Endorsements	53,692, 43.0%	60,231, 48.3%	10,866, 8.7%
Popular vote	74,805, 50.3%	59,392, 39.9%	14,652, 9.8%

Incumbent Caretaker President

Javier Fernández

The 2017 PSOE federal congress—officially the 39th Federal Congress—will be held between 16 and 18 June 2017 to elect a new party leadership in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and set out the party's main lines of action and strategy, after the sacking of Pedro Sánchez as party leader in October 2016 had resulted in a caretaker leadership being appointed in the interim. The primary election was held on 21 May 2017, after confirmed in a federal committee on 1st April.

The leadership race will be the first to be held after the party's electoral setbacks in both the 2015 and 2016 general elections in which the party scored its two worst electoral records since the Spanish transition to democracy. An extraordinary party congress had been held in July 2014 after Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba's resignation, in which Pedro Sánchez had been elected as new party leader. However, no ordinary congress had been held since 2012. Former President of the Congress of Deputies and former Lehendakari Patxi López publicly announced his bid as candidate on 15 January, with President of Andalusia Susana Díaz and Sánchez himself following suit.

The event was regarded by some as "decisive" in the shaping of the party's future.

Susana Díaz became President of Andalusia and Secretary General of the PSOE–A succeeding José Antonio Griñán—who had resigned as a result of political fallout derived from the ERE scandal—after a rapid ascent among party ranks throughout the previous years. Known for her political ambition, her power and influence grew as she became the leader of the most powerful Spanish Socialist Workers' Party regional federation, as well as premier of the largest and most populous region in Spain. Soon, she was publicly acclaimed by party colleagues who considered she had the skills, charisma and political appeal needed for leading the PSOE, and quickly rallied behind her as a potential contender for the role of Secretary General after Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba's announced resignation—as a consequence of the PSOE electoral setback in the 2014 European Parliament election—ushered in a rushed leadership race. However, the challenge posed by Eduardo Madina—whose pressure forced a primary election to be held on 13 July—, Díaz's own desire to become party leader by acclamation and not through a bitter leadership contest which could see her popularity eroded, as well as opposition from within the PSOE–A—members of which asked her to remain in Andalusia—motivated Diaz's decision not to run. Nonetheless, Díaz's grudge against Madina for his maneuvers to trigger a party primary and, consequently, thwarting her planned rise, resulted in the PSOE–A backing a dark horse candidate, then-relatively unknown deputy Pedro Sánchez, ahead of the previous federal congress. Thanks to Díaz's support, Sánchez was able to win the primary election by a wide margin and become the new PSOE Secretary General.

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Wikipedia