Delete
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez raises the arm of Diana Morant as the general secretary of the PSPV. EFE
Sánchez Puts Government Against Mazón and PSPV in Pre-Campaign Mode

Sánchez Puts Government Against Mazón and PSPV in Pre-Campaign Mode

The Prime Minister Needs Votes from the Community for Potential General Elections

José Vicente Pérez Pardo

Alicante

Domingo, 2 de febrero 2025, 07:10

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón is indistinguishably the Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the PSOE. This Saturday, he demonstrated it again at the first day of the congress that the PSPV is holding in Valencia, where he has once more chosen Diana Morant as its leader for the second time in just over a year.

Pedro Sánchez's speech in Valencia shows that there is no difference between the representative of all Spaniards and the leader of the PSOE. He criticised the highest representative of the State in the Valencian Community, who is not the delegate, Pilar Bernabé, but the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón. From the "dear president" with which the Alicante native welcomed the head of the central government a day after the tragedy, it has shifted to a scenario of rising confrontation between administrations.

Sánchez dedicated part of his speech this Saturday to criticising Mazón's management of the storm, calling on socialists to defeat him at the polls. When you enter the Valencia Conference Centre to the chant of "Mazón, resignation," you already know what stage you are stepping onto and what the audience expects to hear.

The Prime Minister has denounced that the PP "was not present during the tragedy" and now "is not present in the reconstruction." "Where is the People's Party of the Valencian Community? They are neither here nor expected," he asserted. All this while the Vice President of the Generalitat for Reconstruction, Gan Pampols, and the Government's High Commissioner for the same, José María Ángel, have yet to meet officially.

The Government and the Generalitat are working in parallel for the reconstruction of Valencia, each providing aid on their own and demanding from the other for those that do not arrive. But Sánchez did not come this Saturday to announce more aid or government plans (it would not be the first time he does so from a PSOE podium), but to spur a dispirited PSPV since July 23; to rally a party essential to sustain Moncloa in future elections, whenever they may be.

Juicy Spoils

The Valencian Community has 33 deputies at stake, a prize too tempting for Sánchez to ignore at the right time. With Andalusia and Madrid lost to socialism, Sánchez is left with Catalonia and the Valencian Community as his own options, beyond the nationalists and what might happen with Podemos more than with Sumar. Illa is already working on drawing votes from moderate nationalism and now it will be Morant's turn to do the same.

Sánchez has put the PSPV in play with the clear mission of gaining votes. For what and for when. Those are the big questions. Polls published since November give Valencian socialists a chance to regain the Generalitat a year and a half after losing it. But regional elections should occur first, and Mazón is not keen on holding them precisely because of that, as he could lose them. Just as Sánchez does not call elections despite the government's instability in each Congress vote. Because he could lose them.

The Popular Party is convinced that there will be general elections before summer, and the socialists have started the PSPV congress to prepare for potential regional elections in the autumn. Hence, Sánchez has already put the party in pre-campaign mode.

Mazón and Sánchez; Sánchez and Mazón. Two presidents balancing. Who will endure longer? Which of the gurus will be right?

Publicidad

Publicidad

Publicidad

Publicidad

Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.

Reporta un error en esta noticia

* Campos obligatorios

todoalicante Sánchez Puts Government Against Mazón and PSPV in Pre-Campaign Mode