MADRID: Spain’s Popular Party (PP) on Saturday picked arch-conservative Pablo Casado to replace ousted prime minister Mariano Rajoy as leader, in a move seen as a lurch to the right.

The 37-year-old lawmaker inherits the helm of a party dogged by corruption allegations and that has seen its poll numbers plunge in recent years. “A new era begins today,” Casado told party members after the vote in Madrid. “We’re going to try to reconquer the hearts of all Spaniards after the difficult weeks we’ve experienced.”

The appointment of Casado, a known conservative who has promised “hope” with a generational revamp of the party, will be seen as a lurch to the right for the party.

He has taken a hardline stance on the Catalan independence crisis, calling for the addition of offences such as illegally calling a referendum to the criminal code to boost Spain’s legal response to the secession threat.

“Dialogue doesn’t work with those who want to break the law,” he said this week.

Casado is also against decriminalising euthanasia as promoted by the Socialist government and wants to lower income and corporation taxes.

He will have to breathe life into a party which lost three million voters between the 2011 general elections, when Rajoy won an absolute majority, and the last polls in 2016.

Many have migrated to Ciudadanos, a centre-right party, angry over the series of corruption scandals that hit the PP in recent years.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2018