Profile of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero:The man who became Spain's surprise prime minister in 2004 following a swing in mood after the Madrid bombings will have to guard against complacency if he is to secure a second term in tomorrow's elections
It was classic Rodríguez Zapatero. It might also be described as "preaching to the converted". Wearing an open-necked shirt and casual jacket, Spain's prime minister was wowing a crowd of some 15,000 enthusiastic supporters, who had packed into a bullring last weekend.
He shook hands, kissed cheeks and babies and generally pressed the flesh of the members of the public, although it was pretty certain that most of them were already loyal socialists who will vote for him tomorrow, whether he had greeted them or not.
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is popular on the hustings, but unlike his predecessor, Felipe González, who could hypnotise an audience with a few words, Zapatero is no great orator. But he is a fluent, convincing speaker who makes efficient use of repetition and dramatic pauses.
As the campaign got underway, opinion polls showed the two main parties running virtually neck and neck, although the socialists have begun to draw ahead over the past couple of weeks. Zapatero's task has been to convince the electorate not to be complacent and to go to the polls tomorrow.
He tells them that every vote counts. His advisers warn that a high abstention rate could favour the conservative opposition Popular Party, who can count on a loyal stable of supporters.
Few people expected Zapatero to become Spain's prime minister four years ago. It is probable that if radical Islamic terrorists had not detonated their bombs on three Madrid commuter trains, killing 192 people and injuring thousands more, he would be campaigning to become president of the government for the first time this Sunday.
The atrocity, on March 11th, 2004 - known simply as 11-M - came just three days before Spain was due to hold general elections. Polls had suggested that the Popular Party would win a third term. For the first time they were being led by Mariano Rajoy, a man hand-picked by the outgoing prime minister, José María Aznar. But voters could not forgive the Popular Party for lying and deceiving them by blaming the Basque separatist movement Eta for the blasts, long after all evidence had pointed to Islamists.
Zapatero was born on August 4th, 1960, in Valladolid, northwest of Madrid. He comes from a middle-class professional family - his maternal grandfather was a doctor in Valladolid, and his father, Juan Rodríguez, was a lawyer in the cathedral city of Léon, where the young José Luis was educated and which he still considers his home. He was very close to his mother, Purificación Zapatero, who died in 2000.
It is his paternal grandfather, who he never knew, who has marked Zapatero's political and personal lifestyle. A captain in the Spanish Republican army, Juan Rodríguez Lozano was shot by a Nationalist firing squad in 1936 for refusing to fight on the Franco side in the Civil War. His death, 25 years before José Luis was born, turned the grandson into a devout pacifist. He often refers to his grandfather in his speeches and introduced reforms to give Republican veterans and their families benefits and pension rights.
He joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1979, and his rise through political ranks was rapid. After qualifying as a lawyer he was appointed assistant professor of constitutional law at the University of Léon in 1983, a post he combined with his political duties. Three years later he became the youngest deputy in the Spanish parliament and he continues to represent his Léon constituency to this day.
Zapatero is a true left-wing socialist at heart. "Rather than describing myself as a social democrat, I am a democratic socialist," he said. "The right has taught me nothing. [If anything] the right wing in this country has shown me that the left is the best way to advance democracy."
IN JANUARY 1990, he married Sonsoles Espinosa Díaz, his long-time girlfriend who had been a fellow law student. She never practised her profession but instead is a music teacher and classical soprano. A shy, attractive woman, she is not a member of the socialist party, but is said to be a close confidante to her husband. The couple have two young daughters, Alba (12), and Laura (14), who attend state schools but are rarely seen in public.
In 2000, the PSOE was narrowly defeated in the general election, but Zapatero held his own parliamentary seat. In June that year, when still virtually unknown outside his Léon area, he stood for the post of general secretary of the PSOE against two more prominent candidates, who were better known nationally and far more experienced. His surprise victory at the party congress immediately thrust him into the role of leader of the opposition, after which he left Léon and moved to Madrid with his family.
Like tens of thousands of Spaniards, he vehemently opposed Spain's involvement in the invasion of Iraq. In 2004, he pledged to withdraw Spanish troops if he was elected, and one of his first decisions after being sworn in was to order the troops back home. It was a controversial step, which added to his unpopularity in the United States, where he has still not been forgiven for refusing to stand as the Stars and Stripes flag was carried by in the annual military parade.
Zapatero has been accused of being more a domestic politician than an international leader. But a former member of his staff denies this: "The idea that he is not confident beyond the Pyrenees is nonsense. He loves meeting foreign leaders, particularly in Europe and Latin America. He has made more overseas trips during his first term than either Felipe González or José María Aznar. What he doesn't like are long trips lasting several days. He prefers to leave Madrid in the early morning, get straight down to business, have lunch with his host, and get back to Madrid in time for supper with the family."
To the disapproval of some older members who remember the golden days when PSOE was a Marxist party, the PSOE today has moved more and more to the centre left - or to what some would describe as just the centre. This has pushed the Popular Party further right, a move that has upset many traditional, more liberal conservatives who consider themselves centrists but cannot bring themselves to join the Socialists.
There is something of a Zapatero personality cult in the party. He is nearly always referred to as ZP (from Zapatero President or the letters of his own surname). Recently this has been abbreviated even further to the letter "z", which was used in this election on posters, flyers and even dozens of crooked Z-shaped lecterns used for press conferences in PSOE headquarters, or on the platforms at political meetings and rallies. He is even depicted in cartoons as the letter "z", with his head stuck on the top.
COLLEAGUES DESCRIBE HIM as tranquil and placid. "He never shouts or loses his temper. He is always optimistic and never seems to have ups and downs. It's almost as if he has a built-in thermostat that controls his moods," says one of them.
He has always set great store by social policies - women's rights, education, pensions, and allowances for people who have elderly or disabled relatives. He is proud of the fact that, under his government, Spain became only the third country to legalise same-sex marriages. Many of these policies, most notably gay marriage, education, and "quickie" divorce, have brought him into conflict with the church, which last month told the faithful they should not vote for parties that support such policies.
He has promised to continue along these lines if he is re-elected. He told one colleague: "I have a dream of Spain as a kind of Mediterranean Sweden. I admire its welfare state, civil rights, freedom, high technology and efficiency." But he is a determined and stubborn man who sticks to his opinions. "I will not change my principles for one single vote," he says.
At the age of 47 he is still baby-faced, with dimples and piercing blue eyes - although his smile sometimes appears stiff and forced. After four years in the prime minister's official residence in the Moncloa Palace, he says he still loves his job - "although I've got a few more lines and a few fewer kilos". He even has a few grey hairs, which weren't there four years ago and doubtless, if he wins tomorrow, he will have a few more by 2012.
The Zapatero File
Who is he?Spain's 47-year-old prime minister, a surprise winner in elections four years ago.
Why is he in the news?He hopes to win a second four-year term in office in the general election tomorrow.
Most appealing characteristic?A devoted family man who adores his wife Sonsoles and endeavours to keep his two young daughters out of the limelight. He always tries to have either breakfast or supper with them - even if it means leaving home before dawn, rushing back from trips abroad or from important meetings.
Least appealing characteristic?Not a good team player, a somewhat disorganised man who only thinks in the short term and rarely has a back-up if something goes wrong. "He never has a Plan B" complained one of his staff.
Least likely to say:"I think I'll invite the bishops and George Bush around for supper this evening."
Most likely to say:"Vote, vote, vote."