The municipal and regional elections of May 28 have started this Thursday in the Community of Madrid converted into a double pulse: all the candidates against Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the candidate of the PP, and Díaz Ayuso launched to confront Pedro Sánchez, the president of the Government (PSOE). With two weeks ahead, the campaign will decide if the conservatives retain power in the two main institutions of the region, and how it affects the left to have reached the appointment with the polls divided into several brands: More Madrid, PSOE, and Podemos-IU at the regional level, to which is added the brand of Recupera Madrid in the capital.
Ayuso and Almeida launch the 28M as a first round of the generals
The electoral campaign of the PP has begun in 2023 as in 2021: with Isabel Díaz Ayuso charging against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the party focused on turning the elections into a first round for the general elections at the end of the year, and the leader turned into the icon of the right. But many things have changed in these two years. If in 2021, and in the same square of the capital as this Monday, Díaz Ayuso asked to turn the Madrid regional elections into the springboard that launched Pablo Casado to La Moncloa, this time it was the turn of the new popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. If two years ago the leader was looking for a comfortable victory, now an absolute majority is required. And if then her responsibility was limited to the regional result, on this occasion, as the new president of the PP in Madrid, she will also be examined by the municipal results.
Because it does not matter that during this Monday the versions of the music group Metropop play on stage, that the crowd that fills the square does so wanting to party, and the flags of Spain, Madrid or Venezuela in the air. The 28M is going to be played with a dog's face. Every vote counts.
"How lucky to give everything for Madrid and Spain to start again," said Díaz Ayuso, who intervened shortly after the police expelled a group of doctors from the area with balloons and posters denouncing the temporality in their profession. "I ask not to trust [with the good poll data], what happens in Madrid will resonate throughout Spain, it will change the course of this country," he continued. "These governments [those of the Community and the City Council, both of the PP] are the ones that Spain is missing until Feijóo reaches La Moncloa."
Along the same lines, Martínez-Almeida has expressed himself, who has celebrated forming with Díaz Ayuso "the best electoral ticket in Spain".
"It is going to win again so that Feijóo is the next president of Spain, we owe it to Spain, the first round is played in Madrid [of the generals]," said the mayor of the capital. "These elections are the most important that has ever been in Spain, because Spain has never been worse than with the Government of Pedro Sánchez, we have never been so close to the constitutional precipice, because it is urgent to throw them out, with the ballot boxes, as soon as possible," he continued. "We must send a message of hope to the Spaniards, that Pedro Sánchez has his days numbered in La Moncloa," he stressed. And he has asked: "May Madrid be a cry of hope throughout Spain. The elections are about Sanchez or Spain, or Spain or Sanchez. Do not hesitate, La Moncloa is not only in Madrid, it goes through what happens in Madrid, and what happens on 28M".
More Madrid, to the rhythm of La Oreja de Van Gogh
The candidates of More Madrid to the Mayor of Madrid and the Presidency of the Community of Madrid, this afternoon in Vallecas.Borja Sánchez-Trillo (EFE)
Silence. Van Gogh's Ear sounds: "And today I just want to believe... That you will remember the winter afternoons in Madrid, the whole sleepless nights, life passed and I felt that I was going to die of love..." An adviser to Monica Garcia thought a week ago that this was the best song to open the election rallies these days. The most voted party in the 2019 elections in the capital, Más Madrid, has started its electoral campaign in the Cerro del Tío Pío park, in Vallecas, known as the park of the Seven Tetas... because of the shape of its hills.
Here, at the top, with stunning views of Madrid – probably this is the best free terrace in the capital – Mónica García and Rita Maestre have started their campaign. Nothing is casual. Here, in Vallecas, Más Madrid proposes to eliminate the Vallecas bridge as a first electoral measure. Put an end to the passage of 250,000 vehicles through this working-class neighborhood. Here, a campaign begins, marked, above all, with an eye on the City Council, where all the polls predict that the PP will win the elections, but that it will not be by absolute majority and that, even, it can lose the mayor's office as long as Podemos enters for the first time in the palace of Cibeles. Here, in Vallecas, the two women of Más Madrid, surrounded by around 300 neighbors, Más Madrid relies on word of mouth to add and add. "The goal is to achieve a better life for all," said Javier Padilla, the number two to the Assembly. "We are a handful of votes away from reaching the mayor's office," said Rita Maestre. "We played the final between the PP and Más Madrid," added Monica Garcia. "This is not about Pedro Sánchez or the national key. It is not a first round. Madrid is not a starter, it is a main course. Here we will talk about doctors, nurseries, health, education, housing."
We can: "The key" of Madrid
The candidates of Podemos, this Thursday. Fernando Sánchez (Europa Press)
"A van with another tent was coming. That if it does not arrive, we take the one that is mounted and pa ́lante, "said one of the militants minutes before the campaign opening of Podemos-Izquierda Unida-Alianza Verde began. But the tent has arrived in time. At seven o'clock in the afternoon, a hundred people cheered the candidate for mayor of the capital, Roberto Sotomayor, and the candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid, Alejandra Jacinto. Both sponsored by the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra. The place chosen, as a symbol of neighborhood struggles, the Plaza de la Asociacion, in the neighborhood of Orcasitas. And the music, songs by the Madrid group Tremenda Jauría. "Take off from the ground, take flight, start from scratch, from Madrid to the sky," says the lyrics of one of them.
Sotomayor, excited, has made several promises. Of carrerilla. The first: "I want to say it now, I'm going to close the Valdemingómez incinerator, it's time for the people of Vallecána to stop breathing shit. It's over." The other two: free public transport and closing betting shops. "I have strong, firm legs, and not just from running for years. We are not going to bow to vulture funds, or Florentino Pérez, or any speculator," he shouted.
"We're really looking forward to it. You win, yes. Desire to evict Isabel Díaz Ayuso." This is how Jacinto has started the campaign, in the neighborhood where she worked as a lawyer and alluding to the spot launched this Thursday by the PP. "Desire to have a pediatrician, to have a place in the public school, you want the neighbors of San Fernando de Henares to have a house, you want to cool off in the parks, you want to go see our grandmother at a residence and tell us that she has eaten well. Desire not to choose between private, concerted or wasteland. Desire to lower rental prices. We are really looking forward to it, yes," he continued.
After the candidates, the posters and the historic neighborhood association of Orcasitas. Applause, a couple of cheers and that's it. It's time to wait. "How hot, but good, with desire," said a woman with a purple scarf around her neck, the same one who gave a bouquet of flowers to Ione Belarra before the act. Three types of flowers, of three different colors: red, yellow, purple. And the music has sounded again. This time, the root.
PSOE, in Parla
The candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid, Juan Lobato (i), this Thursday. SERGIO PEREZ (EFE)
The Socialists, who start as the third and fourth force in the Community and in the City Council, have met this Thursday in the park of the Universe in Parla. Juan Lobato and Reyes Maroto have received their own to the sound of Voy a pasármelo bien, by Hombres G, covered by the group La Banda del Patio, and together with the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera. "There are two weeks ahead in which we are going to get joy and opportunity for everyone. Madrid is very big," said Lobato.
In the act, many mayors of the community, who were mostly from the south of Madrid, participated. Reyes Maroto also dedicated a few words to Lobato: "We need Juan to govern in this community because we need to move to useful politics." The candidate for mayor of Madrid has alluded to José Luis Martínez-Almeida and "his lies". "If he wants to govern, let him take responsibility for his policies," he said.
Villacís: "To the third I will be mayor"
Begoña Villacís, this Thursday in the Salamanca district. Daniel Gonzalez (EFE)
The candidate of Citizens to the Mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, has started her campaign in an attic of the street of Serrano of the capital. "In the first campaign I managed to become a councilor. In the second, deputy mayor, "he said, according to the news agency Europa Press. The event was attended by the president of Ciudadanos, Adrián Vázquez. Villacís seeks to be decisive in the capital reaching 5% of the votes.
With information from Beatriz Olaizola, Irene Vega, Juan José Mateo, Manuel Viejo and Europa Press.
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