• Anti-austerity party lures former Defense chief to election ticket
• Rodríguez Fernández to campaign for Congressional seat from Zaragoza
Spain’s insurgent-left political party, Podemos, has recruited a military general who was formerly Chief of Staff under the previous Socialist government to run on its parliamentary ticket in the country’s upcoming Dec. 20 national elections.
General Julio Rodríguez Fernández served as military Chief of Staff from 2008-2011 during the administration of former President Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Socialist party (PSOE), currently Spain’s principal opposition party. During Fernández’s tenure as Chief of Staff, the Spanish Minister of Defense was Carme Chacón, who currently leads the PSOE list of regional candidates in Catalonia for the upcoming elections.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has said that Fernández will be number two on the party’s regional list for Zaragoza and that if Podemos were to win a majority in the Dec. 20 vote, Fernández would become Spain’s next Defense Minister.
Read Full Story in English at El Pais >>
