MADRID, April 12: Spain’s re-elected Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced a government on Saturday which for the first time included more women than men and a female defence minister.

Most key members of the outgoing cabinet, such as Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, Economy Minister Pedro Solbes and Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, remained in their posts.

But Carme Chacon, 37, the outgoing housing minister and a rising star in the ruling Socialist Party, was named to head the defence ministry.

She succeeds Jose Antonio Alonso, who last month was named speaker of the lower house of parliament.

There are nine women and eight men in the new cabinet.

“It is the first government in which a woman has the defence portfolio and the first government in which there are more women than men,” Zapatero, 47, said at a news conference to announce the new lineup.

He said “equality between men and women” would be one of the chief goals of the new government, elected on March 9.

During his first four-year term, his government had already passed a raft of liberal social reforms, such as laws to allow same-sex marriages, promote gender equality, combat domestic violence and make divorce easier.

The new government included five new names, while four other ministers were ousted.

Among the new faces were Science and Innovation Minister Cristina Garmendia, 45, and Equality Minister Bibiana Aido, 31, who will be Spain’s youngest ever cabinet member.

Solbes will have the key task of implementing a stimulus package to revive the flagging economy, which Zapatero has identified as one of his top priorities.—AFP