It was a “big” debate, at least according to its size: six faces and voices, half a dozen candidates. The candidates for mayor of Madrid appeared last night on Telemadrid under electoral conditions that were different from those of their counterparts in the Community. In this case, the polls are much tighter. The victory of the PP is taken for granted, but the majority of Martínez-Almeida seems something much more distant than in the case of Díaz Ayuso. Yes or yes, there will be agreements.
The “new” shift opened, Roberto Sotomayor, from United We Can. And he did so by referring to the “mask scandal” and the felling of trees. “This is how the mafia has governed the city of Madrid,” he concluded. Almeida, later, made reference to his “agreed antics in Villatinaja, where they have told him that this is how he is going to consecrate himself. Thank Pablo Iglesias for entering the campaign, “replied the mayor.
The first of the blocks was dedicated to the Economy and Taxation. And there the first “pique” of the night took place, between Begoña Villacís (Cs) and Reyes Maroto (PSOE). “You have created taxes only for the people of Madrid,” the deputy mayor told the former Minister of Industry. Maroto accused him of “lying”, to which Villacís responded by recalling the difference in investment of the Socialist Government in Catalonia with respect to Madrid. “You were in a government council in which Madrid was systematically mistreated.”
Almeida and Rita Maestre also had their confrontation. The Más Madrid candidate reminded her that all the achievements of her legislature have been inherited from the Ahora Madrid government. «Maestre’s thesis is that everything we have done has been with you in the opposition. So, they should stay there,” replied the councilor.
As for Javier Ortega Smith (Vox), he alluded to the “waste” of the City Council. An intervention criticized by Villacís and Almeida, who accused him “of having voted with Rita Maestre against lowering the IBI to Madrid residents.” It was then that the councilor pronounced one of the phrases of the night, referring to the opposition as the “trio of the apocalypse.”
Especially harsh and loaded with interruptions and reproaches was the block dedicated to proposals for mobility and the environment. “The mayor who hated trees”. This is how Maestre described Almeida. “Don’t be childish Rita, respect the citizens,” the mayor replied. A good part of the content at this point was dedicated –both by the left-wing candidates and by the Vox representative– to Almeida’s change of position with respect to Madrid Central. They reminded him of his proposal to eliminate this low emission zone before the 2019 elections. The popular candidate shunned that front and boasted of management: compliance, for the first time in history, with the air quality levels proposed by the EU , the activation of two zero-emission and free lines, the revolution in public transport and the tree-planting campaigns. The representatives of the left focused, for their part, on warning that, in the next legislature, Almeida could be forced to govern together with “a denialist”, in reference to the Vox candidate. As regards transport exclusively, Maestre and Almeida staged another “hook” with Bicimad involved. The mayor put on the table how his government has taken Bicimad to the 21 districts of the city. “There are stations, but there are no bicycles,” the representative of Más Madrid reproached him. Sotomayor, for her part, launched as star proposals for Podemos two ideas that the Sánchez government could have given shape to: free public transport for all those registered in the capital and to solve the problems of Bicimad with more budget and more person. Despite the fact that Villacís demanded that he give the figure for the cost of both initiatives, the purple candidate opted for silence.
The third block was dedicated to Housing and Urbanism. Ortega Smith accused the candidates of being “at auction” when it comes to the flats. “But like the 15,000 that we agreed with Almeida, they are forgotten.”
Maestre and Almeida got involved again. «It takes you at number 3 to the main squat of the Casa Maravillas. Are you going to be your Housing Councilor? she asked the candidate, to which Maestre, out of time, assured that she was “very proud.” “Today his recipe is a failure and he has no solution, only empty promises for a decade from now,” the Más Madrid candidate replied. The councilor wanted to remember that his government will execute 120,000 homes in the developments of the southeast ».
For her part, Reyes Maroto stressed that she “will apply the Housing Law” approved by the Government of Sánchez, which caused a new “rubbing” with Villacís, in line with problems such as the “ghost kitchens” and the “Plan 18,000”.
Sotomayor and Almeida confronted again. “If the average salary is 1,200 euros and the average rent is 1,000, do you get the accounts?” asked the Podemos candidate. “Ask Irene Montero: the accounts do come out for her,” the mayor replied.
“Listening to the left talk about housing is like listening to the Castros talk about human rights,” Ortega Smith contributed, recalling that Vox managed to “unblock Madrid Nuevo Norte.” An intervention that Almeida took advantage of to accuse him of “clamping with the left.”
The block dedicated to security and social services started with a memory and a silence. Villacís recounted how Alejandra Jacinto, Podemos candidate for the regional government, carried out an escrache years ago. “She is violent.” And he asked Sotomayor to reflect on it: «Start by asking for my forgiveness, I demand it of you. You are not going to do it because you are cheap feminists, chalet communists and revolutionaries without a revolution ». In effect, the Podemos candidate remained silent. In this phase, an intense confrontation between Almeida and Maestre took place again. The candidate reproached the mayor for not having published at this point the list of those admitted to nursery schools. «She promised the construction of 30 of these facilities and her project so that the canteens are free in public and subsidized schools. You are the mayor of the balls out, you talk about the Government of Spain and more about Rita Maestre than about his management. Why do you have your house so dirty? It is something that all the neighbors repeat, “Maestre reproached her in reference to, in her opinion, the poor state of the city. At this point, Almeida reminded Maestre of his past as a member of the Government of Manuela Carmena: he made use of some of the former judge’s proposals on the matter, such as championships for the students to pick up the cigarette butts or for the mothers of the children to be the to clean the schools. Faced with this, the mayor boasted of new cleaning contracts that have increased his budget by 50% and have reduced complaints. He cited security as the competition in which the differences between his project and that of the left can best be contrasted.
Ortega Smith promised “law and order”, his commitment that the capital does not become Colau’s Barcelona or that crime runs rampant. And he raised the debate to the national arena to charge the government for putting “rapists on the street, promoting squatting and opening the borders.” “This is not Torrente, patrolling the city,” the Podemos candidate replied.
The last block was dedicated to the future and the pacts. And he left an unprecedented confrontation in the debate: Almeida vs. Villacís. «You have said no to agree with Vox and Podemos. Is there a scenario in which you would agree with the PSOE and Más Madrid?”, asked the mayor. “The only party that is not going to put into the Government people who go against the people of Madrid is us: someone who stalks manteros or violent who make escraches to pregnant women.” For the first time at night, Ortega and Almeida agreed on something: “You have enjoyed the vice mayor’s seat thanks to the Vox Votes.”
In any case, Ortega Smith did want to show his “commitment” to form a government with the current mayor “so that fanaticism does not enter the City Hall.”
