One week after the anniversary of the internal crisis that took away the first leader of the PP elected by primaries, Pablo Casado, his enemy in that war, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has executed the final chapter of revenge.
The president of the Community of Madrid has communicated to four acting mayors, at least two of them linked to casadism
―José Luis Álvarez Ustarroz, from Majadahonda;
Susana Pérez Quislant, from Pozuelo de Alarcón;
together with Jorge García, from Colmenar Viejo;
and Raúl Martín, from Villaviciosa de Odón― who will not repeat as candidates for the next municipal elections on May 28.
It is a decision of depth because they are active councilors of large municipalities of Madrid, and it supposes a replica of the internal earthquake of a year ago in the PP.
Although Ayuso has all the competence to execute these changes in the candidacies as the regional president, the leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo has not welcomed her decision.
Some management sources highlight the "error of removing mayors."
Genoa does not get involved in Ayuso's decision, but if the elections fail in those municipalities, the PP in Madrid will be asked for explanations.
José Luis Álvarez Ustarroz, mayor of Majadahonda, signed his political death sentence on October 29, 2021. That day, in the midst of the war between Ayuso and Casado for control of the PP in Madrid, the councilor spoke during a board of directors and He defended the position of the national leadership: it was not urgent to hold the regional congress that would allow the Baroness to concentrate the organic and institutional power of the region.
One year later, this Thursday, Álvarez Ustarroz announced that the party has informed him that he will not repeat as a candidate in the municipal elections on May 28.
On her part, Susana Pérez Quislant, mayor of Pozuelo for eight years, was pointed out due to her proximity to the general secretary of the PP at the time of Casado, Teodoro García Egea, a staunch enemy of Ayuso.
Meanwhile, Jorge Garcia,
More information
Messages from the faithful to Casado before the betrayal: “Congratulations, seriousness and truth.
That's the way"
Ayuso has uprooted the inheritance left by Casado in Madrid, a decision that has not gone down well with the national leadership of the PP.
“It is a big mistake to remove mayors.
The party can never remove mayors;
the people take them away.
And if the party removes them, it is normal for the people to punish them ”, reflects a source from the leadership.
In Genoa they remember that Ayuso is exercising "the competence of the regional leadership" as president of the PP of Madrid and there Feijóo has nothing to say, because he has delegated the preparation of his lists to the barons, except in the case of the 54 candidates of provincial capitals, where Genoa has worked.
The barons have a free hand, but Feijóo will later demand results, also in the case of Madrid.
"If it fails, we will talk," say some management sources.
"Feijóo's criteria is to tell the barons: you have a wide sleeve, you make the decisions, but you take them for better or for worse," recalls another national leader, who stresses that "Feijóo is very result-oriented."
In principle, in Genoa they do not believe that Ayuso's decision could make them lose the elections in those municipalities, because they are places where the PP is very consolidated, and for this reason they understand that the Madrid leader has allowed herself the margin of laminating the mayors.
"They are controlled damages where you will not suffer", estimates a leader, who also warns that the movement with the mayors is a "notice to navigators" from the regional president about what she can do with the list to the Madrid Assembly and for the City Council of the capital, where she has the last word.
Due to its proximity to Casado, in the PP they have also doubted the future of the current mayor of Las Rozas, another key municipality for the conservatives, although the councilor José de la Uz has managed to smooth things over with Ayuso.
In the same position is that of Boadilla del Monte,
Javier Ubeda.
In both cases, PP sources say, their weakness will be demonstrated when the Madrid leader's team will make the lists for them, as will happen in the case of Martínez-Almeida in the capital.
The casadistas have received the internal slaughter with surprise, for being too deep.
“The same thing that she asked that they not do to her is what she has done.
She asked that if she was electorally successful, she would be respected, but these mayors won and she has removed them, ”complains a leader close to Casado.
"She is building a very small party, only with her friends who have come over," they lament in marriage.
In addition to the mayors, Enrique López, Minister of Justice, has resigned as a member of the PP, preparing the way to return to the judicial career in anticipation that Ayuso will not have him due to his ties to Casado.
A fate that will foreseeably be met, for the same reason, by two other directors (David Pérez and Carlos Izquierdo).
There is only one survivor among the most significant casadistas: Antonio González Terol, former mayor of Boadilla del Monte and former national vice-secretary of the ousted president, has been chosen by the Madrid leader to try to reconquer the municipality of Alcorcón.
Ayuso neither forgives nor forgets the attempt by Casado and his collaborators to end his political career by revealing that his brother charged from his Government for the sale of masks during the pandemic.
An information with which the environment of the president of Madrid assures that she was blackmailed for months by the previous president of the party to make her resign from running for the presidency of the PP in Madrid.
A year later, and once internal power has been conquered, she has decided to exercise it to the last consequences.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I'm already a subscriber