The PSOE is a party with edges, nuances, sectors with differentiated visions. But there are also consensuses. And two are very clear in the face of the municipal and regional elections on May 28: that the regional presidents want to shield and sell their management, highlight and promote their “own voice”, sacrificing a photo with Pedro Sánchez and conveying the message. that in these elections “you do not vote in a national key.” Under these premises, this weekend Ximo Puig will be, in principle and in the absence of last-minute changes to the agenda, the only regional president present at the municipal convention held by the PSOE in Valencia. It should be noted that, of course, he is the host. It will be the great socialist pre-campaign act, but it will be marred by absences.
Therefore, there will be no family photo. From the socialist leadership they explain that already at the beginning of the year they opted to hold a municipal convention and not a regional one, precisely because the barons wanted more autonomy and to focus the pre-campaign and the campaign on their management, on selling their management in these last four years . Avoid that the elections are faced in a “national key”, they expose from different communities. In fact, at a meeting in Ferraz at the beginning of January between the Organization Secretariat and those responsible for this area of ??the communities, precisely what was requested was to place “value the action” of the socialist governments as the axis of the message. The regional presidents want to value their action, knowing that the action of the central government shows wear and tear.
The feeling within the autonomies is clear: on 28-M “the mayors and regional presidents are voted for.” The purpose of the barons is also to demonstrate, as Emiliano García-Page has explained, -he declared himself “autonomous of whoever is in Madrid”- that in the face of PP candidates who consider posts by Madrid, they are autonomous and free to decide and act. They claim not to have been elected in an office.
In Ferraz they knew that once an autonomous convention would not be held, the territorial leaders would play their personal brand, their management. The name, the candidate, even above the initials. Something that has a pull especially in the municipalities. That the citizens vote for the person. But they downplay the absences this weekend of the presidents, defending that it is an appointment to promote their municipal candidates. “It is the mayors, men and women, the candidates who participate in all the tables, debates…”.
In the municipal convention there will be four work commissions: the social and healthy municipalities (coordinated by the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero); that of sustainable municipalities (coordinated by the mayor of Seville, Antonio Muñoz); that of safe municipalities (coordinated by the PSOE candidate for Madrid City Council, Reyes Maroto) and that of municipalities without a gender gap (coordinated by the mayoress of Toledo, Milagros Tolón).
The independent announced yesterday that the absences were due to “schedule reasons”, although the truth is that the date, from April 14 to 16, and the place, Valencia, have been publicly known for at least a month and a half.
Sánchez will campaign in the territories. In fact, he is already immersed in it, visiting all the territories. This week he has staged two events in Castilla y León, today he is in Cáceres, tomorrow in La Rioja, at the end of next week in Toledo, then Andalusia… The regional presidents will have their presence, but what they are trying to avoid is An identification. That the national controversies, the political “noise” and within the coalition or, even now, the reactivation of the Generalitat’s desire for independence, harm its interests and stain its management during the pandemic or now the socioeconomic crisis due to the war . His priority is to lower the electoral ball to the autonomous field of play. And play there.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
