She was the previous Spanish deputy prime minister, then she was the runner-up in the race in July to become the PP's new leader. Today, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría has told the party's leader, Pablo Casado, she plans to "abandon political activity and set out on a new stage".
Santamaría met Casado this Monday, whom she told she'd taken the decision after "deep reflection and based on the conviction it's better both for the new leadership of the PP", for her family and for herself. She explained her decision publicly in a statement, expressing her "deepest" gratitude for the "priceless" experience she's had over the last 18 years.
Os adjunto el comunicado en el que anuncio, tras entrevistarme con nuestro presidente @pablocasado_, mi salida de la actividad política.
— Sáenz de Santamaría (@Sorayapp) 10 de setembre de 2018
Siento una gratitud profunda. Ha sido una experiencia impagable, en la que he intentado dar lo mejor de mí misma al @PPopular y a los españoles pic.twitter.com/vsECrvuass
In the statement, the former deputy PM says she's tried to give her best both to the party and in service of the Spanish people, whom she's always been "indebted to in my political vocation" and to whose "trust" she has tried to respond with her "behaviour and work".
Santamaría describes it as "an honour" to have worked with former prime minister Mariano Rajoy on a "great political task" which culminated "in an executive which managed to take" the country out "from the greatest economic crisis in its recent history" and which "didn't falter when it came to defending the unity of Spain and the rights of all Spaniards".
In the statement, the politician also thanks "so, so many colleagues" who have helped her, to whom she expresses her "affection": "I couldn't have done anything over these years without their support and collaboration".
Finally, she says she's passed on her "best wishes for success" to Casado for this new stage of the party: "For it, he has the best political organisation in Spain and the most loyal members, who I'll always be among".
The anti-independence plan
Whilst deputy PM, she was in charge of the frustrated Operation Dialogue with Catalonia from early 2017, which tried to build bridges with parties that don't support independence and pro-union sectors of civil society. Moreover, she was the main defender of a tough line to fight the independence movement, culminating in suspending self-government with article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.
At the end of her tenure as Rajoy's number two, Santamaría came head-to-head with other ministers, like María Dolores de Cospedal and José Manuel García Margallo. Both ended up supporting Pablo Casado for leader after losing themselves in the first round.