During the next two weeks, the leadership of the opposition to the Government of Pedro Sánchez will be exercised from Galicia.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo knows that the Galician regional elections are decisive for his future, so he has decided to settle in his land as if, on a trip to the past, he were - he was in the last three elections - the candidate for the presidency of the Xunta.
The leader of the PP has landed in the Galician campaign with his own electoral caravan and will only return to Madrid to participate in the Congress plenary sessions, his team explains.
His objective is to tour rural Galicia, town by town - with up to four events a day - to help his dolphin, Alfonso Rueda, not lose power.
From Galicia, Feijóo will launch the messages about what happens in Madrid, which will inevitably give a national focus to the Galician campaign.
The PP is marked by the experience of the last general elections, in which several polling companies made it believe that it had conquered La Moncloa and in the end it was not like that.
Nobody trusts the polls anymore, so we have to do the rest.
Given what may happen, Rueda has asked the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for help to mobilize the right and cut off Vox.
Feijóo's direct team tries to prevent this media display from conveying an image of nervousness, and assures that they do not see the absolute majority in Galicia at risk.
“Our candidate [Alfonso Rueda] debuts in a good demographic context,” they argue.
The starting point is the 42 seats that Feijóo achieved in 2020, four above the absolute majority;
So, to go to the opposition, Rueda would have to leave five seats behind.
“That would mean losing one per province, and another one in one of the four.
In which province are we going to lose two seats?
We don't see it”, they trust the hard core of the PP leader, where they also highlight that his polls reflect a high voter loyalty for the PP while that of the PSOE is low.
But Feijóo does not want to risk being deceived by the polls "again", so he puts on the suit of a
shadow candidate
for the presidency of the Xunta de Galicia, even if he somehow leaves the leadership of the opposition in Madrid exposed.
“Why are the media going to judge him the day after the February 18 elections?
"For these fifteen days as leader of the opposition, or for the result of the Galician elections?", they question the PP leader's team to justify the strategy.
Feijóo is clear that he cannot fail in his land and prioritizes these elections over any other issue, despite the fact that in Madrid the political situation is complex and uncertain, at a time when the processing of the amnesty law is advancing.
The PP, however, keeps several bullets in the chamber to try to accentuate the image of "weakness" of the Government, management sources point out.
On the immediate horizon (still without a date) is the approval of the deficit and debt objectives, which depends on the absolute majority of the PP in the Senate, and that the popular ones can drop to give a blow to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.
Renewal of the CGPJ
In the middle of the Galician campaign, on the 12th, the second meeting between the PP and the Government must also be held in Brussels to negotiate the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, another hot potato for Feijóo.
In recent days, the popular leader has accentuated the messages of firmness and has entrenched himself in the fact that he will only agree on the names of the new members if a change in the Council's election method is agreed at the same time.
“Nothing will be closed until everything is closed,” he concluded.
The PP does not want an image of
piecing
together the Government before the Galician elections and Feijóo is under pressure from Vox and important sectors of the right - such as the Madrid PP - not to agree anything with Sánchez, so an agreement is not expected ( if there is) before February 18.
Despite its weakness, Vox will continue to condition many decisions of the PP during the campaign.
The popular parties need to leave no room for the extreme right in Galicia so that Vox does not scratch that precious 3% of the vote that the polls give it.
To achieve this, Rueda has asked for help from Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who will have a relevant role in the final stretch.
The president of the Community of Madrid will host a rally in Vigo on the 15th and an informative breakfast in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) on the 16th, just 48 hours before the elections, as confirmed by the Madrid PP.
Her role will be to neutralize those of Santiago Abascal and mobilize the right.
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