Ana Lumbreras
Logroño, May 9 (EFE).- Will there be an electoral turnaround in La Rioja on May 28? The polls seem to indicate that it is and that the PP could recover the government that it lost in 2019 after twenty-four uninterrupted years in power. However, the PSOE is confident that the Concha Andreu government has not been just a parenthesis.
The key, as in other important squares, will be the role of third parties that, regardless of who is the winner, can tilt the government formation to one side or the other.
The current electoral scenario in the region, with 174 municipalities and some 316,000 inhabitants, is different, given that discontents from the PP and the Riojano Party (PR+) have formed Por La Rioja; and the PR+España Vaciada coalition has been created.
They are joined by the Podemos-IU coalition, which has two deputies; and Vox, which all estimates suggest that it will achieve, for the first time, regional representation and in Logroño; while Ciudadanos does not seem to be repeating its 2019 results, with four seats and four councilors in the La Rioja capital.
PSOE: THE STREET SURVEY
The socialist candidate for the Presidency of the La Rioja Government, Concha Andreu, is running for re-election and, if possible, without having to depend on other parties, as has happened in this legislature, in which she signed a governance agreement with IU, that he did not join the Executive; and Podemos, which occupies a council, whose head, Raquel Romero, continues in office after being expelled from her party.
Andreu, who is “proud” to be “the most ‘Sanchista’ president”, is “clear” that the PSOE will win the elections and achieve “such a large majority” to continue building this community; in addition to the fact that she feels supported by “the street survey”.
The “hunch” of the mayor of Logroño, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, is that he will be re-elected with more votes than in 2019, despite criticism for the creation of bike lanes and pedestrianization of downtown areas.
PP: SUFFICIENT MAJORITY TO GOVERN
Gonzalo Capellán, after nine years away from political activity, insists that he will have a sufficient majority to be Prime Minister, without ruling on what he will do if he needs the support of other parties, such as Vox, because “predicting seats is putting the car in front of of the oxen.”
He has managed to make the La Rioja PP give an image of unity, after the division generated by not holding the regional congress and agreeing, with the support of the national leadership, that he head the electoral list.
Conrado Escobar, with extensive national, regional and local political experience, is not the first time he has chosen to be mayor of the capital of La Rioja, something he hopes to achieve on May 28.
“KEY” MATCHES
Podemos-IU hope that their votes are necessary for the formation of “progressive” governments.
Vox, whose main candidates are new to politics, has no doubt that it will be decisive and “key” with its entry into the institutions; like PR+España Vaciada and Por La Rioja, whose head of the list in Logroño, Alberto Bretón, was general secretary of the regional PP.