The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, with the candidate for mayor of Cartagena, Diego Salinas, on the left, and the aspirant to preside over the region of Murcia, José Ángel Antelo, former basketball player, in a campaign event on May 23. Marcial Guillen (EFE)
The political class has taken a bad name. For years, citizens point out in the CIS those responsible for providing solutions as one of the country's problems along with unemployment, the economy or health. In response to this reputational crisis, the leaders of the parties, especially in electoral campaigns, try different things to appear as less political as possible: the collar turned instead of the tie (Alberto Núñez Feijóo), the joke – almost always goes wrong, as García Page, author of the monologue about the sexual life of his children, knows; whenever I want I leave it and return to the University, to the law firm... In the strategy of dissimulation, they show the public how much they love their dog, what they love the markets, go for a run or have a relaxed beer (surrounded by cameras). And when nothing is enough, the drastic measure: signing normal people, people without political backgrounds, with impeccable newspaper libraries, photogenic and with the ability to excite. For example, athletes.
"Having a son at 55, in the last quarter of the game, made me absolutely happy." We take @NunezFeijoo out of his usual environment to make him talk about what he doesn't usually talk about, in the November issue of @EsquireEs magazine. By @joralcalde https://t.co/zWUnPtakb0 pic.twitter.com/P6BJVmXNFN
— Esquire Spain (@EsquireEs) October 21, 2022
02:10
Page, on his daughter: "You study the human body, the practices are done by your brother"
The lists of the May 28 elections were filled with former athletes, basketball players, cyclists, canoeists, swimmers... In Monzón, a town of 17,000 inhabitants in Huesca, there were up to two former Olympians. Álvaro Burrell, former champion of Spain of decathlon, aspired to the mayoralty with the PSOE after four years as a regional deputy, and the popular included in their lists Eliseo Martín, bronze in the World Cup in Paris in 2003, who had been councilor of youth and sports of the City Council with another party, the PAR, although in this case the Figo did not reach the river. Several former athletes also faced each other in Santander. The PRC presented the former Racing footballer Gonzalo Colsa and the former player of the Spanish basketball team Laura Nicholls, while the PP pulled Beatriz Pellón, former national champion of tennis and paddle. In the campaign, Nicholls admitted, in an interview with EFE, that this jump to politics had affected his "reputation", but assured that he felt the "moral obligation" to do something for his city. More scalded at the time the former athlete and Olympic champion Ruth Beitia, who, in January 2019 resigned from the PP candidacy for the presidency of Cantabria only 15 days after being appointed and after a resounding controversy. In one of her first political interviews she was asked about the gender violence law and answered: "An animal should be treated equally, if it is mistreated, than a woman or a man because in the end we are all human beings." The Mister of that time, Pablo Casado, had chosen her to send to the bench the captain of the PP in the region, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, who had sweated the shirt for her rival in the primaries, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría. With the resignation of Beitia, Buruaga returned to be headlined, has just won the elections and will be president of Cantabria. In politics there are also matches of departure, return, revenge and comebacks.
The parties seek to reproduce those sporting successes in the political arena, but here too there is no small team. "Pepu Hernández knows how to compete and knows how to win," justified in 2019 the then vice president of the Government, Carmen Calvo, the PSOE's bet on the former basketball coach and world champion with Spain for the mayor of Madrid. The Socialists hit rock bottom in those elections: they became the fourth force. Also left out this year of the City Council of the capital one of the star signings of Vox, the Olympic champion in canoeing and former contestant of Men women and vice versa Cristian Toro, and the three-time European champion of athletics in master category Roberto Sotomayor, not reaching Podemos the 5% necessary to enter the Consistory. Others have fared better. The mayor of Montijo (Badajoz) will be the hammer thrower Javier Cienfuegos, signing of the PP. For the same party, Borja Vivas, weight thrower in the London and Rio Games, will be a councilor in the City Council of Malaga; the sprinter Jackson Quiñonez repeats in Lleida with the PSC and the referee Estrada Fernández, in the lists of ERC, will also collect his mayor's certificate. In Gijón there will be a councilor sailor, Ángela Pumariega (PP) and in the Murcian Parliament, a former player of the ACB basketball league, José Ángel Antelo, number one on the Vox list born in Noia (A Coruña) who had throwing baskets non-stop for the promotional videos of his candidacy. Between triple and triple, Antelo was shelling his electoral program: "climate change has always existed", "gender self-determination is far from reasoning", "illegal immigration is synonymous with crime"...
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