Madrid (EFE).- The Federal Committee of the PSOE today ratifies its lists of candidates for the general elections on July 23, headed by the Prime Minister and party leader, Pedro Sánchez, and with the presence of up to twelve ministers, although the last-minute changes have generated controversy.
The meeting this Saturday, which Sánchez will open at around 10:30 a.m. at the Madrid headquarters on Calle Ferraz, will be attended by the members of the Executive Commission, the regional general secretaries and the spokespersons of Congress and the Senate, among others, Therefore, important socialist barons will attend, such as that of Valencia, Ximo Puig, that of Aragón, Javier Lambán, that of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, or that of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page.
The latter is the only one who obtained a good result in the past regional and municipal elections on May 28 and who will continue as regional president.
It is foreseeable that Sánchez will argue again before his own the reasons that have led him to advance the general elections to July 23 and foreseeably -as he did in Congress before the parliamentary groups of the two Chambers- he will harangue all the leaders to ” give battle” and stop an “emboldened right and extreme right”.
The leader of the Socialists will justify that he made the decision to advance the elections scheduled for December out of “conscience” and because “no leader can look the other way when his own receive such undeserved punishment”, which was what he argued before deputies and senators .
The meeting of the Committee is held after learning that Podemos will concur in a coalition with Sumar, news that is welcomed in the socialist ranks, being aware that the left has to be strong in the face of a possible revalidation of the coalition government.
However, attracting the useful vote of the entire left, regardless of whether the PSOE may agree in the future with the Sumar coalition, is the challenge that Ferraz also sets themselves.
The Federal Committee will also be attended by the socialist barons who have received the greatest blow on May 28, such as Ximo Puig or Fernández Vara.
Sánchez searches through the lists that internal peace will be approved today since not only the majority of ministers concur on them, but also regional barons such as the still presidents of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, and of La Rioja, Concha Andreu. Also socialists of the old guard, such as former ministers José Luis Ábalos and Carmen Calvo.
Up to twelve ministers will receive the approval of the Federal Committee at the expense of the PSC candidates, where the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta is expected to be, be approved by the national council of Catalan socialists that will also meet this weekend.
The PSC does not submit its lists to the Federal Committee, which will be ratified after today’s meeting in Ferraz.
Sánchez will head the PSOE list for Madrid for the Congress followed by the third vice president and minister for
Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, while the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, will go in third place, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in fourth and the head of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in the fifth.
The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, who repeats as head of the list for Seville, and other ministers such as the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska (Cádiz); that of Agriculture, Luis Planas (Córdoba); Science, Diana Morant (Valencia); that of Industry, Héctor Gómez (Santa Cruz de Tenerife); and that of Health, José Manuel Miñones (La Coruña).
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, will be appointed head of the Congress list for Ciudad Real, while the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, will be number one for Zaragoza.
The only ministers from the socialist wing of the Government who will not be on the lists are the First Vice President of the Economy, Nadia Calviño, the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, and the Minister of Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, who have not expressed their willingness and furthermore they are not affiliated with the party.
On the other hand, in Madrid’s candidacy for Congress there will also be the vice president of the Senate, Cristina Narbona, and the head of Sánchez’s Cabinet, Óscar López, while the list for the Senate will include the Secretary of State for Sports, José Manuel Franco, followed by the acting mayor of Leganés, Santiago Llorente, and that of Moraleja de Enmedio, Valle Luna.
Today’s Committee will also ratify most of the proposals for candidates for Congress and the Senate that have been suggested by the territorial groups after having been approved by their respective provincial or regional committees, although the highest body of the PSOE has introduced changes to some lists .
The modifications decided by the federal leadership of the PSOE in Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and the Valencian Community have caused anger in those three territories, while in Aragon there has been a block resignation of the candidates.
Fifteen of the Aragonese PSOE candidates that the Federal Commission on Socialist Lists had included in the candidacies for Congress and the Senate have decided to resign en bloc from integrating these lists after Ferraz has modified the proposals of the provincial committees.
These are important changes, among which is the inclusion of the deputy in this legislature Susana Sumelzo, close to Pedro Sánchez, as number two for Zaragoza, behind the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría.
In a statement, the PSOE Aragon Regional Executive Commission has expressed its “deep disagreement”.
The discontent among the Castilian-Manchego socialists occurred after the Federal Committee’s proposal to replace the number one on the lists by the province of Toledo in Congress, the regional secretary of Organization, Sergio Gutiérrez, by the acting mayoress of Toledo, Milagros Tolón.
However, the change will not materialize in the end, so Tolón will be number two, while Sergio Gutiérrez will lead the candidacy, sources from Ferraz confirmed to EFE.
A decision that, for the PSOE of Castilla-La Mancha, represents a “reversal” to what it has described as “impositions”, although the acting president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García Page, has been grateful that corrected the error.
A great anger in the Castilian-Leonese PSOE have produced the changes in the lists that he had sent, with Javier Izquierdo heading the Senate for Valladolid and Manuel Arribas, one of the well-known participants in dinners with ‘Tito Berni’, to lead the list to Congress by Avila.
Party sources have confirmed to EFE both changes, which move Sara Galván, who goes to number two in the Senate for Valladolid, and Yolanda Vázquez, to number two for the Congress for Ávila.
In the Valencian Community, the PSPV lists have undergone a new change after passing through the Federal Commission of PSOE Lists, which has accepted several of the proposals put forward by the provincial directorates of Valencia and Alicante.
The Commission thus modifies the proposals approved this Thursday by the National Executive Commission of the PSPV-PSOE, whose meeting was chaired by the leader of the Valencian socialists, Ximo Puig, in which some of the names proposed last Wednesday by the provincial directorates have already been changed , party sources have confirmed to EFE.
Thus, the lists that will be raised to the Federal Committee once again include the mayor of Paterna, Juan Antonio Sagredo, as number one in the Senate for Valencia instead of the regional secretary for Institutional Promotion, Alfred Boix.
In Alicante, the commission of lists has varied the proposal of the national committee of the PSPV to leave those proposed by the provincial committee with Alejandro Soler of number 1, Patricia Blanquer of 2 and Lázaro Azorín of 3 in its first three positions in Congress.