19th National Congress of the People's Party (Spain)
The 19th National Congress of the People's Party, officially the 19th Extraordinary National Congress, was held in Madrid from 20 to 21 July 2018, to renovate the governing bodies of the People's Party (PP) and establish the party's main lines of action and strategy for the next leadership term. A primary election to elect the new party president was held on 5 July. The congress was called by the party's National Board of Directors on 11 June as a consequence of former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy's resignation as PP leader on 5 June, following the motion of no confidence that had voted his government down on 1 June. The leadership election was the first whereby PP members directly participate in choosing a leader for the party. On 26 June 2018, it was announced that only 66,706 PP members out of the 869,535 reported by the party had registered to vote in the election.
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3,082 delegates in the 19th National Congress of the PP Plurality of delegates needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 67,083 (primary) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 58,304 (86.9%) (primary) 2,973 (96.5%) (congress, president) 2,971 (96.4%) (congress, board) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Autonomous community results map | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Former deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and the party's vice secretary-general of Communication Pablo Casado topped the poll in the primary election held on 5 July 2018, becoming eligible for the run-off to be held among the party's delegates on 20−21 July. After preliminary data was published, Sáenz de Santamaría conceded the election and acknowledged Casado's victory. Casado's win, which was considered a party swing towards the right, was possible through the support to his candidacy of former party secretary-general María Dolores de Cospedal, who had been a bitter rival of Santamaría during the PP's time in government.