Joan Lerma i Blasco (born 15 July 1951 in

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

) is a Spanish politician for the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE), who served as the first democratically elected

President of the Valencian Government The president of the Valencian Government ( ca-valencia, President de la Generalitat Valenciana) is the head of the Generalitat Valenciana, the government of the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia. The president is chosen by the Valencian par ...

since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s.

Early life

Lerma gained a degree in Economic and Business Science from the University of Valencia in 1976. He was a young

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

and in 1973, practised

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

by joining the Young Socialists ( es, Juventudes Socialistes). In 1974 he joined the

Unión General de Trabajadores The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). History The UGT was founded 12 August 1888 by Pablo Iglesias Posse ...

(UGT), a major trade union historically affiliated with the PSOE, becoming a PSOE member in 1975.Dictionary of Valencian politicians 1810-2006 by Jose Piqueras
at which point the party was still illegal under the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. He served as employment minister in the administration of the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

from April 1978 until June 1979. In July 1978, when the

Socialist Party of the Valencian Country The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country ( ca-valencia, Partit Socialista del País Valencià; es, Partido Socialista del País Valenciano, PSPV–PSOE) is a social-democratic political party in the Valencian Community, and is a regional branc ...

(PSPV) decided to merge with the PSOE, Lerma was elected Secretary for political relations between the two groupings and a year later became Secretary General of the combined PSPV-PSOE, the regional branch of the PSOE in the Valencian Community. He headed the regional PSPV-PSOE list at the 1979 General Election and was elected to the

Spanish Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

representing

Valencia Province Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...

and was re-elected in the subsequent elections in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

President of the Valencian Community

On 26 November 1982, Lerma was appointed President of the Valencian Community after the resignation of Enrique Monsonís. This was the last occasion to date that a President was appointed as future President and would be chosen by the

Corts Valencianes The Corts Valencianes (), commonly known as ''Les Corts'' (), are the main legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana and therefore of the Valencian Community. The main location of the Corts is in the Palace of the Borgias in Valencia; howev ...

, the Valencian regional parliament. In 1983, the PSOE won the first elections for the Corts Valencianes since the death of Franco with an absolute majority and the parliament in turn selected Lerma as the first elected President of the Valencian Community since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s.

First administration

Lerma announced that the priorities of his first administration would be administrative reform, political and economic recovery and health and education. One controversial issue was the proposed layoffs at the 'Altos Hornos del Mediterraneo' steelworks which led to strikes by local Trade Unions.

Later career

The PSOE won the subsequent elections in the Valencian Community in 1987 and 1991 and Lerma was re-elected President of the Valencian Community on both occasions. However the party lost the 1995 election to the Partido Popular. Lerma blamed his defeat on the policies of the Central Government, singling out delays affecting the construction of motorways through the Valencian territory and lack of support from the Central Government in disputes with the neighbouring community of Castile-La Mancha over the Central Government's National Hydrologic Plan as reasons for his defeat. Following his defeat, Lerma resigned from the Valencian Parliament. Although he had stated that he would only accept a Central Government post in "an emergency situation through a sense of duty",El Pais 1 July 1995
/ref> he was appointed Minister for Public Administration by the Prime Minister

Felipe Gonzalez Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy pe ...

Senator

Lerma returned to the Spanish Congress in 1996 when he was elected to the

Spanish Senate The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. Th ...

, office he is holding as of August 2019. He served as PSOE spokesman in the Senate from 2004 to 2008.

References