Spain's conservatives swing to the right after leadership battle

Spain’s conservative Popular Party (PP) appeared to be lurching to the right on Saturday after choosing a 37-year-old hardliner as its new leader. 

The opposition party picked Pablo Casado as its new chief less than two months after prime minister Mariano Rajoy was forced from office amid a corruption scandal.

Mr Casado, who has never held a ministerial post, has taken a tough stance against Catalonia’s independence movement. 

He called for new criminal laws to toughen the central government's response to unathorised referendums. "Dialogue doesn't work with those who want to break the law," he said.

Mr Casado also campaigned for a tightening of Spain’s abortion laws and came out in opposition to plans by the governing Socialist Party to legalise euthanasia. 

He has presented himself as a champion of family values and is in favour of broad tax cuts. 

"A new era begins today," the new leader told party members after the vote in Madrid. "We're going to try to reconquer the hearts of all Spaniards after the difficult weeks we've experienced."

His election caps a tumultuous few weeks for the PP, which governed Spain from 2011 to June but was rocked by a series of corruption scandals. 

Several party officials and businessmen were convicted on corruption charges in late May. Mr Rajoy lost a vote of no confidence in parliament on June 1 and the Socialists formed a new government. 

Mr Rajoy's resignation as party leader on June 4 triggered a leadership contest between Mr Casado and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, who had served as deputy prime minister. 

Ms Sáenz de Santamaría won a first round vote of party members but Mr Casado prevailed in Saturday’s election among delegates, winning 1,701 votes to his rival’s 1,250. 

The party must quickly regroup ahead of European and local elections in May 2019. Mr Casado expects to eventually face Spain’s 46-year-old prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, in a general election.