SPAIN'S LEADERSHIP BATTLE SWING

MADRID : Spain's conservative swing to the right after leadership battle. Spain's Popular Party [PP] on Saturday last picked arch-conservative Pablo Casado to replace ousted  prime minister Mariano Rajoy as leader, in a move seen as a lurch to the right.

The 37-year old lawmaker inherits the helm of a party-dogged by corruption allegations and that has  seen its  poll  numbers  plunge in recent years.

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

The appointment of Casado, a known conservative who has promised "hope" with a generational revamp of the party, will be seen as a lurch to the right for the party.

He has taken a hardline stance on the  Catalan, independence crisis, calling for the  addition of offences such as illegally  calling a referendum to the criminal code to boost  Spain's legal  response to the  secession threat.

"Dialogue doesn't work those who want to break the law, "  he said this week.

Casado is also against decriminalisng, euthanasia as promoted by the Socialist government and wants to lower income and corporation taxes.

He will have to breathe life into a party  which lost three million voters between 2011 general  elections, when Rajoy won an absolute majority, and the last polls in 2016.

Many have migrated to Ciudadanos, a centre-right party, angry over the series of corruption scandals that hit the PP in recent years.  [AFP]