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Former education minister possible Socialist candidate in Madrid mayoral race

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The former Socialist (PSOE) Minister for Education, Angel Gabilondo, confirmed on Tuesday that he was willing to be the party's candidate to become the mayor of Madrid.

The PSOE challenge to win the town hall in the Spanish capital suffered a setback last week when the original candidate, Tomas Gomez, was sacked by party leader Pedro Sanchez as the result of an investigation currently underway over allegations of corruption when Gomez was mayor of the nearby town of Parla.

The PSOE in Madrid has been put in the hands of a management committee, which now has to decide who will replace Gomez as a candidate and how that selection process will take place, whether by further primary elections or by directly naming Gomez's replacement.

Gabilondo has emerged as favorite and although he was unwilling to explicitly say he would stand, the former minister admitted he would be prepared to lead the campaign.

"If anyone believes that I am able to do something, then I am here," Spanish TV network RTVE reported Gabilondo as saying.

"It is not for me to say what the management committee should do. There has to be a process and when the voices of party members have been listened to, if I am put forward, then there is no doubt that I will take a responsible and serious decision," said Gabilondo, adding that the most important issue was the future government of the Spanish capital.

He also commented that if any of other possible candidate was selected ahead of him, they would have his full backing.

Voters in Madrid are currently in a strange situation: with the local elections just three months away, both the PSOE and United Left (IU) have lost their original candidates, with Gomez being sacked and IU candidate Tania Sanchez abandoning the party to form a new political group.

Meanwhile People's Party (PP) leader, Mariano Rajoy has yet to name his party's candidate to replace Ana Botella, who will stand down as mayor at the forthcoming elections.

Two possible candidates are the government delegate in Madrid, Cristiana Cifuentes, and former president of the Madrid Autonomous Community, Esperanza Aguirre. Rajoy is looking for someone to galvanize his party's voters and stop its slide in the opinion polls. Endit