Aznar Lopez, Jose Maria

▪ 1997

      On May 4, 1996, the Spanish Cortes (parliament) approved José María Aznar López, the leader of the centre-right Popular Party (PP), as the new prime minister of Spain. A former tax inspector who was little known outside his native country, Aznar had narrowly defeated incumbent Felipe González Márquez in the general elections on March 3. Though Aznar's victory fell far short of the landslide that had been predicted, it helped bring to an end 13 years of Socialist rule in Spain and signified a major political turning point for Western Europe's youngest democracy.

      Aznar was born on Feb. 25, 1953, in Madrid. Although both his father and grandfather held government jobs during the fascist regime of Gen. Francisco Franco, throughout his career Aznar advocated a much more moderate conservatism. After graduating from the University of Madrid and while working as a tax inspector during the 1970s and early '80s, Aznar became an active member of the right-wing Popular Alliance, which later became the PP. Aznar was instrumental in leading the party toward the political centre, and the PP elected him to succeed retiring party leader Manuel Fraga Iribarne in 1989.

      First elected to the Cortes from Avila in 1984, Aznar later served as president of the Castile-León region (1987-89). He was elected to the Cortes from Madrid in 1989 and, as head of the PP, continued to reform the party, actively recruiting women and young people and cutting ties to the far right.

      In 1995, after being slightly wounded by a car bomb that was attributed to the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Aznar led the PP to large gains in the general elections. During his campaign to become prime minister, he focused on the numerous scandals that had plagued González's government, citing them as evidence that the Socialist regime needed to be replaced by a "clean" party. He also was able to turn his uncharismatic popular image to his advantage, stressing his "ordinariness" and his reputation for being an earnest, levelheaded leader.

      In his effort to be named prime minister, Aznar was forced to seek the backing of several of Spain's small, regionally aligned political parties, since the PP had fallen short of winning a legislative majority in the March elections. Facing possible instability with a minority government, Aznar remained unperturbed. He declared that Spain had "begun a new chapter in its history" and reaffirmed his goals of liberalizing the economy, cutting the public deficit, and rooting out the rampant corruption that had plagued González's government. (SHERMAN HOLLAR)

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