The Soria platform Now!
presents its candidacy for the regional elections on February 13 at the provincial electoral board in Soria, on January 10. Wifredo García (EFE)
The first political challenge for Empty Spain came earlier than expected. The electoral advance in Castilla y León implied entering into pressing deadlines without margin to structure the movements before the appointment of February 13. Some, like Soria ¡Ya!, were already going to attend and have been active for years; others have hardly had a tour in their provinces. The ways of creating these parties scale some sectors of Empty Spain who fear that the desire to obtain political presence will make them "lose credibility".
Five of the nine provinces will finally have these acronyms on the ballots: Soria, Palencia, Burgos, Salamanca and Valladolid. Autonomous sources of rural groups express surprise and displeasure at the candidates from Salamanca and Valladolid. The first was known at the end of 2021 and the second last Monday, without it transpiring that the process of formalizing a representative had been completed before December 31 to complete the lists on January 10. The candidacy of Cristina Blanco, former mayor for Ciudadanos in Medina del Campo and currently unassigned mayor, has generated suspicion for having belonged to "conventional" parties. Nor is it convincing in Burgos that Roberto Alonso and Gloria Bañeres, previously councilors in the City Council of the capital with UPyD and Cs, are part of the lists.
An autonomous member of España Vaciada believes that the rush generated by the PP movement has made them commit "mistakes" that can damage the "original philosophy" of the platforms. He acknowledges a certain "innocence" for not having polished some internal coordination rules, and indicates that the national assembly has intervened to try to get the provinces that doubted whether to attend or not, to take the step. The coordinator, Antonio Saz, had insisted that they would respect the "autonomy" of each group, but at the same time warned that they aspired to have representatives in the nine provinces of Castilla y León. He also warned that Valladolid was preparing a candidacy. The final balance shows that provinces where the platforms were stronger, such as León, Zamora or Segovia,They have refused to present themselves to strengthen their project before launching it at the polls. Instead, they appear, between misgivings, Salamanca and Valladolid.
Saz understands that discrepancies have arisen and stresses that "the important thing is that there are people with a commitment to political action." "We should have put out candidates where there was more implementation, but the step has not been taken," he adds, while asking not to prejudge the candidates because "those who participate in this process are going to stand up for everyone." The experience that may be lacking in these platforms is attempted to be covered with the baggage of “profiles with a political past”.
The magnitude of the challenge, which looks towards the municipal and general elections scheduled for 2023, with the example of Teruel Exists, outrages a sector that has spent years of silent dedication to the problems of its territories. One of the critics exposes: “You risk a lot doing this wrong”. “It has all been very unpleasant. There are people who are very upset because interest has prevailed over coherence”, adds this activist who fears that the “greased machinery of the big parties” will take advantage of that weakness to discredit the “credibility” harvested after years of kicking towns and crying out in the desert. of the institutions.
Sergio Díez, part of León Ruge, admits that in the same way that the revolt of the Empty Spain in 2019 attracted many people and groups, agreeing in Priego (Cuenca) that the platforms could participate in politics gave another boost to the popularity of the movement : "This has run too much even for us." This Leonese recognizes "the risks" of presenting these candidacies suddenly, but thinks that "the movement is expanding" and that, despite criticism, the candidacies of Valladolid and Salamanca "are a call to create a base and reach those who want to participate ”. One of the few platforms attached to the Empty Spain in the Valladolid province, A11 Pasos, in Peñafiel, gave up trying to sneak into the institutions. Alicia del Pozo, one of its members, accepts that the objective was "to have representation",but he adds that it may seem that “some have jumped on the bandwagon”, because not even his association was aware that these people, whom they did not know, could end up forming this group. "The polls and time will tell if they are opportunists or if they want to work," he ditches.