José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Minority parties (especially United Left, a communist party) criticized the decision, for they considered it an attempt to attract their own voters, who would rather ensure a defeat of the People's Party even at the expense of voting for an unfavorable party. Zapatero's slogan became "we deserve a better Spain", which was coupled with "Zapatero Presidente", or "(ZP)", which became a popular nickname of the then Spanish Prime Minister. During the campaign, Zapatero harshly criticized the People's Party for its management of the "Prestige" crisis, its attitude towards the invasion of Iraq and the high cost of housing. Mariano Rajoy,
Cristina Garmendia innovation. On April 11, 2008 the president of the Spanish Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elected Cristina Garmendia as holder of a new ministry, Minister of Science and Innovation, which was going to be created during the IX term of office. The Ministry of Science and Innovation for the first time drew together all the Government’s capacities and bodies to promote R&D, including Public Research Bodies, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI). The Ministry was created with the mandate to fully harness the economic potential the scientific capacity of the country