Choosing between two candidates, Spain's center-right Popular Party on Saturday will elect its new president who will have the task of keeping the party together as well as regenerating it with a view to winning the next general election scheduled for 2020. Spain's former deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, and leader and spokesperson of the party Pablo Casado, will vie for the support of 3,082 delegates in a secret ballot during the PP's 19th National Congress, which began on Friday. He opposes abortion and has called for the party to return to ‘traditional’ conservative values of “life and family.”

Rajoy’s ouster via no-confidence vote brought the Socialists into office, and one of the first decisions Casado will face is the extent to which the PP should give parliamentary support to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government. He has called for a return to traditional conservative values of “life and family” and is on record as opposing abortion. "I am proud of Jose Maria Aznar, Mariano Rajoy and Manuel Fraga," he said in his speech before the delegates, after defending conservative policies on "life and family".
Pablo Casado is elected leader of Spain's centre-right People's Party after defeating former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría in a run-off.