The president of the PP of Salamanca, Francisco Javier Iglesias, has resigned this Friday afternoon as provincial president of the PP, a position that he made compatible with the leadership of the Salamanca Provincial Council.
Iglesias is accused of what is known as
the primaries case
, which investigates whether the conservative formation incurred in alleged irregular financing in 2017 during the internal election process won by the current president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco.
The origin of the 24,000 euros that the PP collected to bring Salamanca affiliates up to date with their quotas and that they could vote in those primaries is in question.
The resignation of Iglesias means that the PP of Salamanca remains under the administration of a manager until a congress is held from which a new leadership emerges.
A part of the PP has been denouncing for months that this congress should have been convened a year and a half ago and that the person under investigation, a trusted man of Mañueco, was delaying its convening for no reason.
A sector of the affiliates even wrote to the national leadership of the conservatives to denounce what happened, which they called a "flagrant breach of the statutes."
"The right to choose and be elected is being stolen," the letter said.
This group of critics, with 147 names signing the formal complaint, demanded the intervention of the Committee of Rights and Guarantees of Genoa and warned that "a deep malaise" was brewing.
The internal committee of the PP answered months later, informing in an aseptic way of the transfer of the matter to the area of Rights and Guarantees of Castilla y León, whose president, Rocío Lucas, answered with a succinct "the actions that proceed will begin by carrying out the information opportune”.
Almost four months have passed since then and sources from that wing of the PP confirm that there have been no movements.
The resignation of Francisco Javier Iglesias comes just two weeks before the hearing called in Salamanca after the lawsuit filed in the Salamanca courts by that sector of the militants reluctant to the leadership and its methods, "for violation of the fundamental right of association in its aspect of law by political association”.
The objective of this claim was to obtain a precautionary measure to force the PP to convene the provincial congress.
This same Thursday night, sources from the PP charro showed their astonishment to EL PAÍS after receiving the call from the Provincial Executive Committee a year and a half late.
The statement, to which this newspaper has accessed, was expressed as follows: "By indication of the Provincial President of the Party [Francisco Javier Iglesias], we summon you to the meeting of the Provincial Executive Committee that will be held on Friday, December 2 at 5:00 p.m. at the provincial headquarters of the Popular Party”.
The purpose of it was the "approval of the minutes of the previous session", the "proposal and approval of the Campaign Committee for the municipal elections", the "proposal and approval of the Electoral Committee for the municipal elections", the "Report of the Secretary Provincial, Carlos García Carbayo [also mayor of Salamanca],
This meeting has served for the provincial leader to step aside from command and open a new stage in the PP charro.
The movement also comes a few months before the local elections in Salamanca, whose city and province are historical strongholds of the PP, although Castilla y León will not hold regional elections like most of the Spanish communities.
Mañueco broke with Ciudadanos last December and called the polls in February, in an election whose result was favored by the current coalition government between PP and Vox.