Maria Lopez |
Madrid (EFE).- Alberto Núñez Feijóo will turn to the local and regional elections on May 28.
Winning has been set as a goal and he will be jointly responsible for the result, which does not prevent him from being cautious in an open scenario where the PSOE could retain power because there are “many balls in the post.”
This is accepted both in the national leadership of the Popular Party and in the territories.
The autonomies that the PP seizes from the PSOE are decisive to find out if Feijóo scores a victory in the run-up to the December general elections. Also the possible pacts with Vox.
Task for candidates
To reach Moncloa, Feijóo has given his candidates a task in May: to be seven years later the first force both in the vote of the city councils and in that of the twelve autonomies that go to the polls. Also add mayors and regional governments. He will campaign alongside him to achieve it.
Three of its autonomous presidents -Andalusia, Galicia and Castilla y León- are not examined and Genoa assumes that Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Fernando López Miras will maintain the Community of Madrid and the Region of Murcia with monocolor governments.
In the party it is also taken for granted that they will obtain power in La Rioja, now in the hands of the PSOE.
Other key places are, on the other hand, in an uncertain situation.
In the spotlight are above all the Valencian Community, jewel in the electoral crown, and Aragon. The PP expects victories from both Carlos Mazón and Jorge Azcón, but the formation of governments is up in the air. The two blocs are very close and the amount will also depend on their alliance with Vox, according to all the surveys.
It is also complex for the PP to govern again in the Balearic Islands, even if Marga Prohens wins the elections.
And it is even more difficult to unseat Guillermo Fernández Vara in Extremadura and Emiliano García Page in Castilla-La Mancha, where the polls place the popular in second place and also depending on those of Santiago Abascal.
These are the main territories in conflict, since Navarra, Cantabria or Asturias do not cause hope in the popular ones.
Good prospects in the municipal
The battle for municipal power appears more fruitful for the PP.
The law makes it easier for the candidate with the most votes to govern in the second round in the event that there is no alternative sum, which simplifies post-election pacts.
Comerse a Ciudadanos, which in 2019 obtained its best local result, will also promote the PP in multiple municipalities, for example in the province capitals of Andalusia.
The electoral map, especially the regional one, reflects the importance of the alliances with Vox, which, however, the PP does not want to talk about.
Regardless of the poll forecasts, all the popular candidates repeat that their goal is to govern alone, without closing the door on future coalitions.
Juanma Moreno, the role model
It is what Moreno defended in the Andalusian elections and against all odds he achieved an unprecedented absolute majority.
The president of the Junta de Andalucía is the model to follow. His participation in the campaign and pre-campaign show it.
It has been in the Valencian Community and in the next few days it will also be in Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and even in Madrid.
The entire party, from Feijóo to the former presidents José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, will do the rest so that the success of Andalusia is replicated.
The challenge is complicated and in private there are a majority of leaders who assume that the taboo of governing with Vox is now past water, which does not remove the need to spin possible pacts very finely because they are under the magnifying glass of the next general elections.
The PP drew another lesson from the Andalusian elections: it is convenient not to inflate expectations when the useful vote of the center and the right are in conflict.
One of the ingredients of Moreno’s success was not transferring to the voters the euphoria of the internal polls that already showed an absolute majority in the last days of the campaign.
In this context, Feijóo has indicated on the one hand that the PP must come out to win and that this is the first step for change in Spain. He assumes the challenge in the first person and they urge Sánchez to do the same with the PSOE.
On the other hand, the PP leader has warned his own and others that “Sánchez’s party will hold out better than in the general elections.” The PSOE interprets that Feijóo thus anticipates a weak result, the PP denies it. Both are already in electoral mode while the countdown to May 28 progresses.