Date formed 21 December 2011 No. of ministers 14 | Head of government Mariano Rajoy | |
Date dissolved 22 December 2015 (formally)
31 October 2016 (caretaker) Deputy head of government Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Head of state Juan Carlos I (2011–14)
Felipe VI (2014–16) | ||
The 10th Spanish General Courts were elected at the 2011 general election on 20 November and first met on 13 December. Mariano Rajoy was invested as Prime Minister on 20 December by the Congress of Deputies and was sworn into office the following day. On the nomination of the Prime Minister, the First Rajoy Government, or the 14th Government of Spain since the Spanish transition to democracy, was appointed.
Contents
History
Mariano Rajoy led his party to the largest electoral victory of the centre-right in Spain in history in the 2011 general election, winning 186 out of 350 seats, an absolute majority of seats. Rajoy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 21 December 2011 after he obtained the confidence vote in the Congress of Deputies. The cabinet endured from 21 December 2011 to 31 October 2016, a total of 1,776 days, or 4 years, 10 months and 10 days.
The First Rajoy Cabinet was composed mainly by members of the People's Party and some independents. At its formation, the government was formed by 14 ministries, including the office of Prime Minister. It saw no major cabinet reshuffle for the duration of its term, with replacements only being done because of incumbents resigning on their own.
Changes
On 28 April 2014, Miguel Arias Cañete resigned as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Affairs in order to stand as his party's candidate to the 2014 European Parliament election. He was succeeded by Isabel García Tejerina.
On 23 September 2014, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón announced his resignation as Minister for Justice, after the Cabinet's withdrawal of his proposed bill to reform the abortion law and PM Mariano Rajoy's decision to keep the bill approved by the previous Zapatero's government, with some minor changes. The decision was said to come over the loss of Gallardón's personal prestige resulting from his staunch defense of the proposed abortion bill, with Rajoy's u-turn on the issue discrediting him. As both Rajoy and King Felipe VI were abroad on official trips to China and the United States, respectively, when Ruiz-Gallardón resigned, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría took on the ordinary duties of the affairs of the Ministry for Justice until Gallardon's successor, Rafael Catalá, could take office on 29 September 2014.
On 26 November 2014, Ana Mato resigned as Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality due to her involvement in the Gürtel case, after she was summoned to court as a "participant on a lucrative basis" in the corruption crimes allegedly committed by her ex-husband Jesús Sepúlveda. Her resignation came one day before a plenary in Congress on corruption in which PM Mariano Rajoy was scheduled to take part, and after Mato herself had announced earlier on the same day that she had not considered to resign. As both PM Rajoy and King Felipe VI had scheduled official trips abroad to France and Germany, respectively, in the days following Mato's resignation, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría took on the ordinary duties of the affairs of the Ministry for Health, Social Services and Equality until her successor, Alfonso Alonso, could take office on 3 December 2014.
On 26 June 2015, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo was sworn in as Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, replacing José Ignacio Wert. The change was widely expected as Wert had requested Rajoy to find him a substitute so that he could retire from politics; however, it was also expected that Rajoy would take such opportunity to issue a full Cabinet reshuffle after the negative results for the PP in the 2015 Spanish municipal and regional elections, an event that did not took place.
After 21 December 2015, Rajoy's cabinet took on caretaker functions for the duration of the government formation process. However, this lasted for over 300 days and a new general election being held in the meantime. A number of ministers renounced their posts throughout this period, with their offices' ordinary duties being taken by other cabinet members as a result of Rajoy being unable to name proper replacements due to his caretaker role.