There are 14 days left for the parties to present their lists for the elections on May 12 in Catalonia. All the main parties have already nominated their candidate. All, except the Popular Party, where the mystery remains. Alberto Núñez Feijóo still does not clarify the leader chosen for elections where the Popular Party starts as the fourth force, but with an increase of about 10 seats after the bleeding of Ciudadanos. The result will clearly be positive for the PP, according to the surveys. But even in this favorable scenario, Feijóo continues to cloud with his doubts a pre-campaign in which the rest of the parties have already entered into the clash. In the midst of the uncertainty generated, and under internal pressure, the leader of the PP has decided to take another step this Monday in his race to the 12-M polls. Feijóo and the PP spokesperson, Alejandro Fernández, held a meeting this Monday afternoon at the national headquarters on Génova Street in Madrid – according to management sources – “to share their vision of the political context.” current both in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole.”
Sources from the popular leadership also advance that the name of the head of the list in Catalonia will be made public immediately. “The national leadership of the PP will finalize the consultation with the main assets of the party in Catalonia in the next few hours and will convey the decision to public opinion,” said sources say. For his part, Fernández has expressed himself through the social network As a candidate for the Generalitat, or as a grassroots member, I will always help in everything I can so that the PP of Catalonia obtains the best possible result.”
Once the negotiation with Ciudadanos has ended, today I have transferred to the President @NunezFeijoo my absolute disposition.
As a candidate for the Generalitat, or as a grassroots member, I will always help in everything I can so that the PP of Catalonia obtains the best possible result.— Alejandro Fernández (@alejandroTGN) March 25, 2024
Last week, the national leadership of the PP used a first excuse not to give a name. Feijóo's team threw things out there trying to convey the idea that their efforts were focused on the negotiation with Ciudadanos for a joint list, and that therefore the decision on the candidate depended on how the pact was forged. But, on Friday, the talks were blown up due to the resistance of a CS sector led by its spokesperson in Parliament, Carlos Carrizosa, to being diluted within the PP.
However, three days later and with the negotiations already broken, Génova continued this morning without confirming Fernández and without naming a new head of the list. The excuse now is that the party has entered a “second phase” in which they have to listen to the “comrades” of the party in Catalonia to choose the most suitable person. “The decision on the candidacy, not only the number one, but the rest of the candidacy that the PP will offer to the Catalans, has to come from the colleagues in Catalonia,” Borja Sémper assured a few hours before the meeting of Feijóo and Fernández. . “It seems reasonable that those who make the decision or those who influence the decision are those who make politics in the territory. And this is the most relevant thing,” added the PP spokesperson at a press conference at the party headquarters after the steering committee meeting.
The spokesperson has insisted that none of the options on the table can be ruled out, both that of Fernández himself and that of MEP Dolors Montserrat. Feijóo had chosen to delay the only autonomous congress he had pending, the Catalan one, until after the European elections next June. The leader of the PP was against his spokesperson in the Parliament repeating as a candidate in Catalonia, but he postponed his renewal plans in a few months, since the elections were originally scheduled for 2025. president Pere Aragonès brought forward the call and caught the leader of the popular party without having done his homework.
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While Genoa chains excuse after excuse, the days were running out and it was the members of the Catalan PP themselves who were already privately stating that time was against them. And that it was necessary to determine the name of the candidate to get the most out of the pre-campaign. An opinion that is also shared by those close to Feijóo in Catalonia, who also recognize the division in the Popular Party at the regional level. “There are those who support Alejandro and those of us who respect what the president says,” say senior sources in the Catalan PP, who however remain silent about this supposed listening process that has fallen on their shoulders. “I have no more information,” they indicate. In parallel, Fernández's entourage today shows “prudence”, “patience” and “discretion”.
“Different sensitivity”
Aside from the candidate, the popular parties also have pending the defense of their own project for Catalonia. An offer diluted by the controversy surrounding the absent candidate. In the leader's cabinet the approach is to promote a program with a “different sensitivity”, such as that embodied by Feijóo himself, from whom they remember a historical nationality, such as Galicia, comes from and has governed. “The message is one of respect for territorial particularities. We are not uncomfortable with bilingual autonomy, always based on respect for the common project,” indicate management sources. A more open position that contrasts with that of the hard sector of the party and with the postulates of Fernández, who has led a fierce speech in the last three years as spokesperson in Parliament. The problem for Feijóo now is that both his non-continuity and his confirmation shortly, after the noise generated, clouds the race towards the regional elections.
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