AZNAR LPEZ, JOS MARA

born Feb. 25, 1953, Madrid, Spain Spanish conservative politician who became prime minister in 1996. Aznar's father and grandfather both held government jobs during the fascist regime of General Francisco Franco. Throughout his own political career, however, Aznar advocated a more moderate conservatism. After graduating from the University of Madrid, he worked as a tax inspector during the 1970s and the early 1980s. It was during this time that he became an active member of the right-wing Popular Alliance, which later became the Popular Party (PP). He was elected to the Cortes (parliament) from vila in 1984, and he served as president of the Castile-Len region from 1987 to 1989. Aznar helped lead the party toward the political centre, and in 1989 the PP elected him as its head. As party leader, he continued to institute reforms, recruiting women and young people and cutting ties to the far right. In 1995 he was wounded by a car bomb that was attributed to the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). In the campaign leading to the general elections on March 3, 1996, Aznar focused on the scandals that had plagued the ruling Socialist government, and he turned his uncharismatic image into an advantage, stressing his ordinariness and his reputation as a levelheaded leader. He led the PP to large gains, thus ending 13 years of Socialist rule. Because the PP failed to achieve a majority in the Cortes, however, he was forced to rely on the backing of several small regional parties. On May 4 the Cortes chose him as prime minister. He emphasized economic change, including market-based economic reforms and a reduction in the country's debt, but efforts to deal with the ETA consumed much of his attention.