• Ex-Senator Carles Martí throws hat into ring to lead PSC list on June ballot
• Chacon-led PSC ticket won 335k fewer votes, lost 11 seats in Congress in 2015
Carme Chacón, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) leader who headlined the PSC-PSOE party ticket in the December 2015 general elections, will face a primary challenge if new general elections are called from PSC ex-Senator Carles Martí, who has thrown his hat into the ring to challenge the former federal cabinet minister and four-term member of the national Congress of Deputies.
Martí announced yesterday that because of the PSC-PSOE’s poor showing in the December general election — the party netted 335,000 votes fewer than in its 2011 election outing and lost 11 seats from Catalonia for the PSOE in the Congress — it would be a “mistake” to again have Chacón at the top of the ticket and the party should take the opportunity to introduce fresh strategy and new faces into the upcoming campaign.
Chacón served as Minister of Defence from 2008-2011 in the PSOE cabinet of then-President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and is currently Secretary for International Relations of the national party. PSC-PSOE general secretary Miguel Iceta has declined to comment on his preference to head the regional ticket until after the current Congress is dissolved and new elections called on May 3rd.
► Read More in Spanish at El País and El Periódico …
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