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The aim of this article is to show the degree of stability of the Spanish party leaders, and to tentatively identify the role played by several factors such as the party access to the (national or regional) government, the presence of the party leader party into the government, the internal cohesion or the party culture. To do this, the paper focus its analysis on the Spanish party leaders who belong to political parties that have achieved a constant presence at Spain’s Lower Chamber (Congreso de los Diputados) from 1977 to 2010. The results (national or regional) highlight the close relationship between the presence of the leader into the government and the duration of his/ her tenure. However, the results also show that the presence of the party in the government is not associated with a longer tenure than if the party is in the parliamentary opposition.