Rebecca Palacios
Logroño, (EFE).- The plenary session of the constitution of the new La Rioja Parliament, at the beginning of the eleventh legislature, has been filled with relaxed smiles, an effect of the theory of mirror neurons, because if the leader smiles, this emotion is contagious to the rest of the team.
Or at least that’s what he defended in an informal conversation before the plenary session who will be the next regional president, the popular Gonzalo Capellán, while he chatted relaxed with his deputies and party colleagues in shirt sleeves.
The outskirts of the old convent of La Merced, headquarters of the regional Chamber, brought together parliamentarians and representatives of La Rioja institutions and entities, who waited for the start of the plenary session as guests wait before attending a wedding celebration.
Chaplain, similar to the groom who stars in the ceremony, disputed the favor of the photographers’ flashes, while greeting the many attendees who have attended the first plenary session of the legislature.
As in many of the sessions, there has been no shortage of demands at the door of Parliament, on this day led by members of the April 28 Platform, who have called with their banner “Stop accidents at work.”
Marta Fernández, in the pools
While the public took their place inside the building, the journalists rushed their pools about who would be the new president of the regional Parliament, with accurate rumors pointing to Marta Fernández, number two on the popular regional list, who carried a revealing folder with documents under the arm.
Jokingly, the general secretary of the PP of La Rioja, Alfonso Domínguez, congratulated himself that the investiture debate will be “much calmer” this year than in 2019, thanks to the absolute majority achieved by the PP in the elections of last 28 May, when he obtained 17 deputies, compared to 12 from the PSOE, 2 from Vox and another 2 from Podemos-IU.
Four years ago, the PSOE won with 15 deputies, compared to 12 for the PP, 4 for Ciudadanos and 2 for Unidas Podemos, but the difficulties in agreeing on a left-wing progressive coalition government forced two investiture debates to be held, in July and August, and to delay the formation of the regional Executive.
“It was your fault,” Domínguez snapped at the IU deputy Henar Moreno, for which she quickly replied that it was not hers, since she was not part of the Government (PSOE-Podemos), and all the delay was due to the deputy of the purple formation, Raquel Romero, who was Minister of Participation during the last legislature.
Poise of the 11 veterans
Already in the chamber, the 33 deputies have taken their seats, with the poise of the 11 already veterans, and the curiosity at the novelty of the 22 that were released.
Among the experienced, the president of the acting regional government, Concha Andreu, who greeted each other, with the question of whether she will complete the entire legislature, since she heads the list for the Senate of the PSOE of La Rioja in the general elections next July 23th.
Also today there have been veterans who changed the color of the bench, such as Belinda León, the last spokesperson for Ciudadanos last term, now welcomed among the ranks of the PP; and the historic regionalist Miguel González de Legarra, who was president of the Rioja Party and regional deputy between 1991 and 2015 and who has sat among the socialists.
The crowded corridors of the lower cloister and the large public leaning out on the balconies of the upper cloister have forced the president of the senior board, the socialist Teresa Villuendas, to ask for silence several times, who has sent “a message of encouragement, strength and affection ” to all the people of La Rioja affected by the storms of the last few hours.