The President of the Government (Spanish: Presidente del Gobierno), or Prime Minister, of Spain is the Spanish head of government. The President of the Government is elected by the Congress of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) on being proposed by the King. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978. It is presently occupied by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
The Spanish head of government is known, in Spanish, as the Presidente del Gobierno. Literally translated, this title is "President of the Government", but nevertheless the office-holder is commonly referred to in English as the "Prime Minister": the usual term for the head of government in a constitutional monarchy.
In Spain, he or she is often called simply Presidente and Spaniards will often translate his or her title in English to President. More than once, the Spanish term has caused embarrassing errors among foreign authorities, for example when Jeb Bush (Governor of Florida and brother of George W. Bush, the President of the United States) referred to the head of government as the "President of the Spanish Republic".
Election
The President of the Government is not directy elected by the people but indirectly elected by the legislature. Following legislative elections, which take place every four years, the leader of the majority party, or the leader of the majority coalition, is usually proposed as President of the Government by the King and elected by the Congress of Deputies. The Vice President of the Government (or Deputy Prime Minister) is appointed by the King on the proposal of the President.
The Prime Minister, or President of the Government (Spanish: Presidente del Gobierno), of Spain is the Spanish head of government, but not the head of state, which is the King.
The President of the Government is elected by the Congress of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) on being proposed by the King (this step is a mere formality).
Literally translated, this title is "President of the Government", but nevertheless the office-holder is commonly referred to in English as the "prime minister": the usual term for the head of government in a constitutional monarchy.
Politics of Spain takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy, whereby the monarch is the Head of State and the President of the Government is the head of government and of a pluriform multi-party system.
It is headed by the president of the government (Prime Minister) who is elected by the lower house of parliament (Congress of Deputies) having to win a majority of votes in the first round of voting and a plurality in the successive rounds of voting.
Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally unitary but, in fact, functioning as a Federation of Autonomous Communities, each one with different powers (for instance, some have their own educational and health systems co-ordinated by the central government, co-official language and particular cultural identity) and laws.
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