Spain's former Vice-President and Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba was elected as the new leader of the Spanish Socialist (PSOE) party on Saturday.

Rubalcaba defeated former Defense Minister Carme Chacon to be chosen as general secretary of the party, replacing former Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in the role

61-year-old Rubalcaba was elected after a recount of the 956 votes cast by the delegates at the 38th Federal Congress of the party, which is being held in Seville. He finally defeated Chacon by a total of just 22 votes

The polls had closed at 15.43 local time but the recount meant that the final result was not announced until almost two hours later, given the closeness of the vote.

Rubalcaba had been the Socialist candidate at the November general election, where the PSOE suffered their worst defeat since the return of democracy to Spain, polling less than 30 percent of the votes.

While Chacon represented the younger faction in the party and was thought to have counted on Zapatero's support, Rubalcaba was supported by former PSOE leader Felipe Gonzalez and the majority of the 'old guard' in the party.

Both of the candidates were at pains during the leadership campaign to stress the good relations between them, but Rubalcaba is likely to take a less strident role in opposition, placing an emphasis on making pacts with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy during the current process of economic, financial and labor reforms.