MADRID, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The former leader of the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and the former coordinator of the 'United Left' (IU) Julio Anguita died on Saturday at the age of 78.
Anguita died of heart failure in the Reina Sofia Hospital in Cordoba, where he had been since suffering a heart attack on May 9.
Anguita joined the PCE in 1972 and became mayor of Cordoba, a southern Spanish city, in 1979 and was re-elected in 1983. He was elected General Secretary of the PCE in 1988 and was named as Coordinator General of the IU a year later.
He was the left wing coalition's candidate to be prime minister in the general elections in 1989, 1993 and 1996, when IU won around 10 percent of the vote.
He stepped down as leader of the PCE in 1998 due to health reasons.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez began his weekly televised speech to the nation during the coronavirus crisis with a message of condolence, describing Anguita as "a coherent, honest and critical man, who tirelessly defended equality and social justice." Enditem
