Feijóo demands autonomy from the PP barons for the lists to Congress

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, believes that he has an opportunity to win and govern after the next general elections and the rest has been subordinated to that objective.

Everything is raised 10 months from now, the ones that are missing for those elections.

He has not meddled in the preparation of the lists for the main mayoralties and communities at stake in the May 28 elections, nor is he interested in resolving the organic and internal problems in the party now, nor does he even intend to organize an ideological convention or programmatic.

His leadership method is based on giving autonomy and then, in any case, demanding "responsibilities" from the losers.

It is what he has explained in public and private to his territorial, regional and provincial barons,

when he gave them all the competition to select the local candidates who will compete on 28-M.

And he also told them that this "autonomy" is what he will demand to have later to prepare his list for Congress.

The barons consulted have accepted and understood it.

A year ago, when he assumed the national leadership of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo arrived in Madrid and at the party headquarters with the task of pacifying the formation, after the traumatic expulsion of Pablo Casado, and with the personal and political goal of confronting to beat Pedro Sánchez.

He confessed it from the first moment.

He is 61 years old, he has won four elections by an absolute majority in Galicia and if he does not succeed, he does not expect a second chance.

The calendar is tight and the popular candidate is already in the campaign, and not for the regional and local elections of 28-M.

He is touring Spain through the provinces, to see first-hand the local leaders, the state of mind of the party, and treating himself to some mass baths.

This weekend he comforted himself before more than 4.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in an act this Saturday in Santiago de Compostela.

oscar corral

In these speeches, he takes the opportunity to outline the widespread criticism of everything that Sánchez does or does not do, and thus probes which are the ones that reap the best reception in the audiences as a warm-up for the future national campaign, and reminds all the barons and candidates regional and municipal authorities that their "responsibility is to win".

It is not a casual message.

The leader of the PP has not interfered nor has he shown much interest in placing like-minded people on any specific list, not even in Galicia, and has indicated in private conversations, in some executive committee, and even in various public events that the barons have enjoyed total "autonomy" to form his teams and candidates, to later add that he will require the same independence and power to form his list to the Congress of Deputies when the general elections arrive,

More information

The bleeding of abandonments in Ciudadanos causes the creation of new parties

Half a dozen national, regional and provincial leaders of the PP consulted by EL PAÍS have ratified Feijóo's warning, they have appreciated the room for maneuver granted to close their lists as opposed to the interference and impositions that they criticized in private during the Pablo Casado period and Teodoro García Egea in command of the party and have interpreted that the national president is preparing to compose his lists to Congress thinking about the future, especially if he has the option of being able to govern.

The popular leaders consulted agree that the current PP group in Congress "is not Feijóo's, nor the one that Feijóo would like to have" and they admit that the new leader will look for other profiles, more to his liking, and thinking of having specialists in different areas, Defense, Exteriors, Industry,

that they could even become ministers of their Government”.

And there the incorporation of external signings is not ruled out, independent people but recognized in their fields, who would no longer come from related parties such as Ciudadanos but from the private sector.

Feijóo's message on autonomy has as a counterpart the demand for responsibilities.

He wants winners.

In his journey through Spain in recent weeks, he has met first-hand many candidates already appointed by local structures and has touched or given an opinion on very few: La Rioja, Asturias, Segovia... The operation of those responsible for the national apparatus has been very different from before.

After a few months with dysfunctions and coupling problems between the tasks to be carried out by his vice-secretary for Organization, the Galician Miguel Tellado, his right-hand man for those tasks, and the general coordinator, the Andalusian Elías Bendodo, theoretician number three of the PP, in the end They have reached an understanding in their work, as corroborated by various territorial barons.

Some became confused and asked Feijóo directly who their interlocutor should be.

Feijóo made it quite clear: in case of doubt, call Tellado.

Tellado and Bendodo have also ended up coordinating better.

In Asturias and La Rioja, where the PP does not govern, the national leadership has taken sides, has set up meetings with the different sectors in contention and has imposed its criteria.

The situation is not the same in the communities where the PP governs and there is a baron in power.

In the case of Segovia, the PP of Castilla y León controlled by Alfonso Fernández Mañueco wanted to change the candidate for the capital that Pablo Casado had sponsored in the past, Francisco Vázquez, and instead appointed the provincial delegate of the Board, José Mazarías, against Tellado's opinion.

Mañueco knows that his commitment will now be measured by the results on March 28, as will happen in other capitals of Castilla y León that lost in the 2019 elections. The same will happen in other regions, such as Andalusia or even Galicia.

Feijóo was in Santiago on Saturday in a great party event to proclaim the candidates for the 313 municipalities of Galicia.

Feijóo's PP suffered a severe blow there in the municipal elections four years ago: none of the seven large cities govern, only one Provincial Council, three of the 20 most important municipalities and 149 city councils, of which 138 with an absolute majority.

That is the other problem, as Feijóo and his successor in the Xunta and the Galician PP confirmed on Saturday.

The PP does not have many options for agreements, except with Vox, and in certain areas.

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, this Sunday in Ibiza.

Sergio G. Canizares (EFE)

Throughout Spain, the PP was left in 2019 with 13 capitals, the most relevant in addition to Madrid, thanks to the external support of Vox, Malaga and Zaragoza.

The only one that is taken for granted now is again Malaga.

The internal data and the sensations that nest in the dome of Feijóo's team are less optimistic and not at all triumphant, despite some public speeches.

It is not clear or repeat the government in the capital of Spain.

The expectations that set 28-M as the first round of the general elections are being lowered.

In 2019, Casado's PP lost those elections, remaining with more than a million votes, 2,000 councilors and seven points below the PSOE result.

Winning in the overall figure even by the minimum, recovering some of the communities lost (before they spoke of the Valencian and now they would be content with Aragon or La Rioja) and keeping the capital and the Community in Madrid would be considered a great success.

In the leadership of the PP there are officials who confess that the PSOE has very good mayors in some large cities, with a lot of voting power,

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber