Ayuso fights not to blur as a rival to Sánchez in a 28M with elections throughout Spain

Family photo of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, during the presentation of the candidacies of the PP to the Assembly of Madrid and to the City Council for the elections on May 28, this Thursday in Madrid.ZIPI ARAGON (EFE)

Former mayor José María Álvarez del Manzano uses his hands to grab the elbow of José Luis Martínez Almeida and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, just as a proud veteran hands over to those who continue on the same path.

It occurs this Thursday during an act to present the regional and capital list of the PP, which symbolically closes the former councilor.

And yet, today's politics is nothing like yesterday's.

Hardly Martínez Almeida dedicates a few seconds to local politics, to the heat wave, or to outlining an electoral promise.

Díaz Ayuso focuses on something else.

In Pedro Sanchez.

In national politics.

In talking more about Spain than Madrid.

Two years after winning the 2021 elections, the conservative leader wants to repeat the formula of constant confrontation that led to that success.

But she has a problem.

Now there are elections in eleven other regions, and not only in Madrid, like then.

And that is why Ayuso seems focused on trying to keep the lights of the rivalry with the president on her, because confronting Sánchez gives votes.

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"Together we have two missions," Díaz Ayuso told the aspiring PP councilor and deputy.

"The first, to put a committed project at the service of Madrid and Spain", he has begun to list.

“And the second, to demonstrate that we are that project that Spain is losing, one of the few counterweights that the

, who destroys everything, who knows no limits, and believes that the end justifies the means.

The never seen in our democracy”, has criticized.

“We are living in a decisive moment for Spain.

Those of 28M are not just another municipal and regional election.

They are the first opportunity for the real Spain, the faithful one, to manifest itself ”, he continued.

And he finished off: “The Madrid PP had never had so much work.

Our task is local, regional and national.

We are waging the battle for freedom more than ever.”

The strategy of converting the municipal and regional elections in May into the first round of the general elections in December has a triple objective.

First, to avoid as much as possible that socialist voters disenchanted with Sánchez vote for PSOE mayors.

Second, launch the long sprint with which Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the national leader of the PP, will try to reach La Moncloa.

And third, mentioning Sánchez with Ayuso just as the bullfighter puts on the cape to attract the bull, in an attempt for the conservative candidate to monopolize all the focuses of the confrontation with the president and not have to share them with the rest of the candidates who there are in the autonomous and municipal.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (c);

the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida (i) and the former mayor of Madrid, José María Álvarez del Manzano (d). ZIPI ARAGON (EFE)

However, Díaz Ayuso faces the 2023 elections without the topic that allowed him to clash again and again with Sánchez in 2021. So, the coronavirus crisis, and the pandemic, allowed him to confront two management models from the same electoral motto: “Socialism or freedom”.

Two years later, the PP's motto for the elections is “You win”.

Nothing to see.

There is no dichotomy.

He is committed to trying to personalize a way of being, a lifestyle, probably advancing the transition towards a discourse focused on management in the event that Díaz Ayuso revalidates power.

But with a long campaign ahead, the conservative strategists are also looking for the target that will facilitate the clash with the central government.

The first attempt takes place at the Dos de Mayo party.

The end of the celebration of the institutional ceremony for the day of the region, which will be next Tuesday, will coincide with a demonstration by the residents of San Fernando de Henares who have lost their homes due to the works on Metro line 7B.

This concentration in the Puerta del Sol, authorized by the Government delegate, Francisco Martín, has stirred up the PP.

I transferred to @franmartagui my concern because @DGobiernoMadrid did not ensure that party and institutional acts take place normally.

And he goes and authorizes a demonstration against Ayuso in Sol knowing that there are activities all day for #2Mayo IMPRESSABLE pic.twitter.com/QBlgLYGXKV

— Alfonso Serrano (@SerranoAlfonso) April 26, 2023

"I conveyed to Francisco Martín my concern that the government delegation did not ensure that party and institutional acts take place normally," Alfonso Serrano, Ayuso's number two in the Madrid PP, wrote on Twitter, after several electoral acts held by the conservatives between shouts against the president and the party.

"And he goes and authorizes a demonstration against Ayuso in Sol knowing that there are activities all day for May 2," he continued.

"Unpresentable".

One more example that the PP of Madrid looks at Sánchez, even by approximation, as the

of its electoral campaign.

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