José Bono
(José Bono Martínez; Salobre, Albacete, 1950) Spanish politician.A true heavyweight of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), he was president of the Community of Castilla-La Mancha for six consecutive legislatures (1983-2004) and Minister of Defense in the first cabinet of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004-2006).From 2008 to 2011 he presided over the Congress of Deputies.
José Bono
A Jesuit student in his childhood and a law degree from the University of Navarra, specialized in Criminal Law, José Bono took the political habit from a Catholic commitment that he held throughout his public career.Around 1973 he began to practice as a lawyer and joined the ranks of the PSI, reconverted into the Popular Socialist Party (PSP) by Professor Enrique Tierno Galván.The transition to democracy began after the death of dictator Francisco Franco (1975), José Bono was a candidate for this formation to the Congress of Deputies in the 1977 general elections, but did not win the seat.
A year later he was one of the promoters of the merger of the PSP with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) of Felipe González, and in the general elections of 1979 he already led the lists of the PSOE for the Albacete constituency.He achieved the seat of deputy and held the Fourth Secretariat of the Bureau of Congress.During that legislature he was second vice president of the Territorial Administration Commission and a member of the Interior and Supplicatory Commissions.
In 1980 he was elected member of the Regional Executive Commission of the PSOE in Castilla La Mancha; in 1982 he renewed his seat in the Lower House, again on the lists of his native province.In 1983, after winning the regional elections, he assumed the presidency of the regional Executive of Castilla-La Mancha.It was the beginning of a long term that would last until 2004.
During this period, José Bono was the winner of all the electoral calls by absolute majority, even in the most difficult moments: in the regional elections of 1995, despite the poor results of the PSOE in the other autonomous communities, José Bono revalidated his mandate for the fourth time.He won 24 seats, compared to 22 for the Popular Party, and was the only autonomous socialist candidate who won the elections by an absolute majority.
The socialist failure in the general elections of 2000, with the consequent resignation of the party's general secretary, Joaquín Almunia, and the internal movements that were orchestrated within the formation to solve the crisis, encouraged to José Bono to make the leap to national politics.On June 17 of that same year, the Castilian-Manchego baron announced his candidacy for the General Secretariat of the PSOE.The election was to be decided at the party's 35th Congress, held a month later, and Bono was running for office in competition with Rosa Díez, Matilde Fernández, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.Against all odds and despite the solidity of the initial support that José Bono received, Rodríguez Zapatero was finally the candidate with the most votes in Congress and, consequently, the one chosen to become the new secretary general of the PSOE.
Back in his autonomous fiefdom, on December 18, 2002 he announced his willingness to once again lead the socialist candidacy for the presidency of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha.The elections were held on May 25, 2003 and Bono won 29 seats, three more than in 1999; it was the sixth absolute majority of his political career.However, he returned to the national stage a year later, precisely from the hand of Rodríguez Zapatero, his former rival in the leadership of the party and brand new winner of the legislative elections of March 14, 2004, who trusted the socialist baron of Albacete the management of the Defense portfolio.Zapatero entrusted Bono with the delicate task of withdrawing the Spanish troops from Iraq (sent by the outgoing president, José María Aznar, who had fully supported the initiative of George W.Bush and Tony Blair), as he had promised in the campaign.Electoral.
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