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
Prime Minister of Russia Prime Minister of the Russian SFSR was appointed by the Supreme Council after each election. Currently Prime Minister is appointed by the President of Russia, subject to the consent of the State Duma (before 1993 the Supreme Soviet). Unlike most other "Prime Ministers", who are also elected members of the legislative body or parliament, the Chairman of the Government of Russia can be any Russian citizen, as long as they do not also hold citizenship of another country. Under law, the President shall nominate a new Chairman of the Government within two weeks of the resignation of a previous government