MADRID: He was known as the great survivor, patiently biding his time as rivals fretted around him, but Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy finally had to admit defeat Friday after six years in power.
When the Basque nationalist PNV party announced it would support a vote of no-confidence to oust Rajoy over his party's corruption woes, the game was up.
The no-confidence vote launched by Rajoy's rival Socialist party chief Pedro Sanchez proved the nail in the coffin of a man variously described as an uncharismatic and rigid do-nothing or a stellar strategist with strong political acumen.
Critics said the grey-bearded, bespectacled 63-year-old leader governed by sitting back -- or going on one of his much-loved power walks -- and then waiting for what ever storm lashing Spain to pass.
"The party is over," said Joan Baldovi, a lawmaker from the eastern region of Valencia.
- Survived crises, crash -
Rajoy managed to emerge relatively unscathed from a series of crises, and even walked from a 2005 helicopter crash with just a broken finger.
Despite corruption scandals that hit his conservative Popular Party (PP) and deeply unpopular austerity measures taken during his first term, the PP was re-elected in 2015.
It may have lost voters and its absolute majority, but it still came first.
The next 10 months saw an unprecedented political crisis, marked by the failure of Rajoy's bickering rivals to agree on an alternative government. Fresh elections were held and the PP won again.
In October 2016, Rajoy was sworn in as prime minister for a second term at the head of a minority government, a respectable comeback even if he was weakened.
More trouble followed, not least Catalonia's failed attempt to break from Spain last October.
There again, he was criticised for doing little to ease the situation but his eventual imposition of direct rule on the deeply divided northeastern region did not spark the unrest many had expected.
The latest corruption scandal involving a PP slush fund damaged him badly however, with the court questioning the credibility of his testimony as it jailed 29 people.
Satirists liked to mock Rajoy's infamous truisms -- Spain "is a great country full of Spanish people" was one such declaration in 2015.
While his talent may not lie in speech-making, he often shone in parliament with witty repartee.
On Thursday, Rajoy launched a last-ditch defence against the no-confidence vote, listing the many graft cases also involving the Socialists over the years.
"Are you Mother Teresa of Calcutta? With what moral authority do you speak?" he asked Sanchez.
- Never 'dead' -
Rajoy is married with two sons and a keen football fan, but little else is known about his private life, and his wife Elvira Fernandez is very rarely seen in public.
Born in 1955 in Santiago de Compostela in the conservative northwestern Galicia region, Rajoy is the eldest son of a provincial court president.
Trained as a lawyer, Rajoy turned to politics at a young age, joining the Popular Alliance, the party founded by ministers of former dictator Francisco Franco which later became the PP.
He later became the right-hand man of Jose Maria Aznar, who led Spain from 1996 to 2004, serving in several ministerial posts.
Aznar appointed him as his successor, but Rajoy went on to lose two general elections to the Socialists before voters finally handed him the premiership in 2011 as Spain suffered the ravages of an economic crisis.
With an absolute majority in parliament, Rajoy implemented deeply unpopular severe spending cuts and labour law reforms.
Anton Losada, a politics professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela who has written a book about Rajoy, said the party may not be completely over.
He said there was still a chance Rajoy could come back as early elections will likely be called, he will likely be the PP's candidate again... and possibly win.
"I think you can only say Rajoy is dead when he's actually dead, not before."