José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José María Aznar on account of the scandal. For the first time, the opinion polls showed that most Spaniards believed that the then Spanish Prime Minister had been the winner (Zapatero had always been considered the winner since his first debate in 2001). Later, in October, a regional election took place in Catalonia, whose results were worse than expected for the Socialist Party. As most of the Autonomous communities of Spain hold the elections to their assemblies the same day, with the exception of Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, coinciding with the municipal elections all over Spain, the
Manuel Chaves González the PSOE, together with Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra and José Bono, who were also autonomous presidents. After the defeat of his party in the general election of 12 March 2000, after which Joaquín Almunia resigned as General Secretary of the party, Manuel took charge of the Political Commission. He organized the 35th Congress of the PSOE, which elected José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as General Secretary. In April 2009, Prime Minister Zapatero designated Chaves as Third Vice President of the Government and Minister of Territorial Policy (the former Ministry of Public Administrations). Manuel Chaves González Manuel Chaves González (born 7 July