Mazón resigns, leaving the Generalitat to Vox

The President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has stepped down from his position leading the Consell. He resigned after a year following the catastrophic storm that claimed 229 lives in the province of Valencia, amid significant social and political pressure, including from within his own party.

After a weekend of intense negotiations directly between Mazón and the President of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the Valencian president resigns. Mazón departs but does not dissolve Les Corts, instead leaving the Generalitat Valenciana in the hands of Vox, who will need to validate his successor.

The secretary-general of the PPCV and Popular Party spokesperson in Les Corts, Juanfran Pérez, is set to be the successor. However, he must secure affirmative votes from Vox's 13 deputies (abstention does not count), necessitating a new agreement. These new negotiations depend solely on the national strategy of Santiago Abascal, despite Juanfran Pérez having been the advocate in all negotiations with Vox thus far.

Vox has already brought down the Popular government in Extremadura, prompting its president, María Guardiola, to call elections on December 21. The question remains whether Abascal also wants to head to the polls in the Valencian Community, knowing that polls predict a significant advance.

Therefore, Mazón has called on the political "majority" in Les Corts to continue the government program that the Alicante native had maintained. "I appeal to that majority to elect a new president of the Generalitat," he insisted.

"By personal will, I would have resigned long ago," Mazón admitted, but he took on reconstruction as a goal. "But I can no longer," he concluded.

"Today is the first day, as an exception, that I will refer to myself," Mazón acknowledged in his appearance at the Palau de la Generalitat. He claims to have been reflecting for a year, since the flood, and only now has decided to "acknowledge personal mistakes" such as "allowing rumors to spread by not providing the correct explanations"; "not declaring a national emergency because the Government told us it would not mean more resources." But above all, "maintaining the agenda that day," his lunch with journalist Maribel Vilaplana, and his delay in reaching Cecopi. He lacked "political vision," he admitted.

He insists, however, that "we never knew" about the overflow of the "deadly ravine" of Poyo and that there were fatalities "until the early hours of the 30th" and the "magnitude of the tragedy." He continues his argument against the lack of information on October 29 and the lack of governmental aid in the following days.

"The noise surrounding me is the perfect excuse not to talk about the Government's attitude," was one of Mazón's reasons for leaving office. He also referred to the lack of personal and family "spirit," which they have endured "until today."

He hopes that, over time, people will distinguish "a man who made mistakes from a bad person."