Socialists split over when to pick Zapatero's "successor"

As speculation heightened over the weekend about Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's future, Socialist Party officials are still divided over whether, if their leader decides to step aside, his successor should be elected before or after the May 22 regional and local elections.

The party's top leaders, or "barons" as they are known, want to initiate the campaign race with all their cards up front, including who will succeed Zapatero. However, the Socialist national committee would prefer to hold a primary after the May 22 elections.

Zapatero hasn't said whether he will run for a third term next March or step down and allow a successor to become the Socialist candidate for prime minister. Party sources say that Zapatero may announce his plans on April 2, the day the Socialists will hold their federal committee meeting, because "it is a logical" time to announce his intentions when all top officials are present. Should he decide to step aside, the barons say they are prepared to support Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba as a candidate.

But national committee members say they don't want the upcoming race to be marred by Popular Party attacks against a successor. "If there is a substitute before the elections, the PP will only have to change one name for another," said one Socialist source.