The dramatic night that the PP of Galicia feared this Sunday ended in a burst of euphoria.

“Scare or death,” muttered at the close of the campaign some of those who have closely followed Alfonso Rueda's team when asked about election day.

But neither one thing nor the other.

From the beginning of the count, relief spread among the popular people gathered in a hotel in Santiago near their headquarters.

With 100% of the ballots counted, the polls not only gave Alfonso Rueda his first absolute majority — the fifth in a row for his party — but they did so by granting him the respite of a comfortable margin.

Without scare or death.

At 8:20 p.m., the general secretary of the PP of Galicia, Paula Prado, appeared and gave the first signs of victory.

Prado expressed her “great confidence” in revalidating the Government after a “magnificent campaign” in which Rueda, he stressed, “did his very best.”

A few meters away, the waiters began to unfold the trays with the party's glasses and glasses.

And shortly after, the candidate arrived to enjoy the night with his team.

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Election Results in Galicia

The advance of the scrutiny evaporated in one fell swoop the anxieties of leaders and militants.

The popular party retains the absolute majority – set at 38 seats – with a comfortable margin of two deputies: they achieve 40, although they lose two compared to the mark of 42 seats that Feijóo left them in 2020. The entry of Democracia Ourensana did not chill their minds either. smile.

Rueda was received by a crowd of Galician PP militants and officials shouting “president, president!”

Before addressing them, he merged into an emotional hug with his general secretary and then with his mother, his wife and his two daughters.

“I will be the president of all without distinction,” also “for those who did not vote for me,” he proclaimed.

He promised to “do everything possible” to “be on par with Galicia.”

“Galicia has sent a message to Spain, without a doubt,” he warned.

“Here we do not want blackmail, neither to do it nor to be subjected to it.

“We don’t want privileges for ourselves or for others.”

In Madrid, Feijóo arrived at the national headquarters of the PP around nine at night after spending the morning in Galicia.

The leader of the Popular Party followed the scrutiny with members of the steering committee on the seventh floor of the building on Génova Street, where the atmosphere turned into relief and joy when the percentage counted was already definitive, and after the initial doubts.

Feijóo congratulated Rueda by videoconference with his team.

Afterwards, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, appeared at a press conference to assess the results and used the victory to attack the Government of Pedro Sánchez.

“Spain had a lot at stake in Galicia and the Galicians have been able to respond by sending a very clear and resounding message: between walls or bridges, they have chosen bridges,” said Gamarra.

For the general secretary of the popular party, Rueda's fifth absolute majority represents the "first message" of the "electoral cycle" of this 2024 - with an eye on the Basque and European elections -, against the action of the President of the Government.

“You have the first proof of what a part of the Spanish people think,” Gamarra added about whether or not the amnesty has influenced the Xunta at the regional polls.

And he assured that the PP will continue to exercise “firm opposition” to the pardon for those accused of the

process

despite the turn in the speech of the PP leadership, which opened a week ago to a conditional pardon for Carles. Puigdemont and admitted that they valued the amnesty for 24 hours.

“The Popular Party is going to continue working because there is an alternative,” she insisted before a possible general election in which she assured that Feijóo would manage to govern.

Gamarrá also ignored that the leadership of the head of the party is effectively reinforced after presenting 18-F as a plebiscite to the central Executive.

Feijóo will travel to Galicia again this Monday to participate in the regional board of directors of the Galician PP alongside Rueda.

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, congratulates his party's candidate and president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, by videoconference, together with members of the training's steering committee at the national headquarters on Génova Street, in Madrid, this Sunday.David Mudarra (PP/EFE)

PP vote harvester

The vote harvester of the PP, the most effective electoral machine of the Spanish right, has been relentless once again.

Despite all the difficulties, with a new, poorly consolidated candidate and a BNG in front that has not stopped growing in the polls, Rueda's party has increased in votes compared to the last elections led by Feijóo.

In the province of Ourense, the popular have resisted the absence of the Baltar family and the onslaught of Democracia Ourensana.

It is the force with the most votes in all the regions of Galicia and has only given up first place in 17 town councils.

The popular Galicians have just overcome 15 very complicated days, with the polls detecting their continued decline and placing them on the verge of losing the Xunta.

They have also lived the last nine months riding a roller coaster.

In May they saw in the blue tide that colored Spain in the municipal elections a guarantee of repeating themselves as head of the Xunta for the fifth consecutive time.

The downturn came with Feijóo's failure in the general elections of 23-J - he won but could not govern - but the protests against the Government of Pedro Sánchez for the amnesty for those accused of the Catalan independence

process

gave them breath again.

Just before Christmas, Rueda decided to move the elections forward to February and make them coincide with the debate on the law that will regulate this grace measure.

It was the first sign that this electoral battle in Galicia was going to be different from the previous four in which Feijóo achieved incontestable victories.

Low-intensity campaigns focused on regional issues were the specialty of the infallible Feijóo and allowed him to deactivate the threat from other right-wing competitors such as Ciudadanos or Vox.

Rueda, however, took a risk with a national strategy, more conducive to Feijóo's presidential race but with uncertain electoral returns in Galicia.

He identified the socialist Pedro Sánchez as his enemy and, in concert with his mentor, gave himself up to the amnesty.

Everything changed after the TVG debate, the only one that Rueda has accepted.

The PP candidate was seen to be a little loose, sleepy and overshadowed by the nationalist Ana Pontón, more expert and skilled in these television duels.

Pontón emerged as the winner in most of the polls and the PP's speech then took a turn.

The nationalist became the target of all the attacks of the popular ones, who until the last day accused her of being a radical independenceist in sheep's clothing.

Just a week before the vote, the PP scored an own goal that left the party in

shock

: a senior leader revealed in a meeting with journalists in Lugo that the party leadership was willing to grant a conditional pardon in the future. to Carles Puigdemont and other independence leaders.

Finally, however, the formidable electoral resistance of the Galician PP has been able to overcome everything.

Like “two foot soldiers”, in the words of Rueda, the leader of the PP and the former president of the Government Mariano Rajoy have kicked Galicia in support of their candidate.

This community is not only the birthplace of the party's founder, Manuel Fraga, but also the territory that has been most faithful to the PP in Spain when it came to electing the autonomous government.

He has governed the Xunta 36 of the 42 years of autonomy.

And he has four more to go.

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