In Las Navas del Marques (Ávila) people continue to wear masks on the streets. More than covid, it is a question of temperature, that it is cold that cuts. A countryman laughs upon hearing the remark: “Don’t complain, we’re not having winter this year. Last year, with Filomena, you would have seen what cold is & rdquor ;.
Left-wing voters are also cold. Not even 24 hours have passed since the scrutiny of the regional elections was closed. The predictable crash of PSOE and United We Can, has been joined by the rise of Vox: “Yesterday I woke up in Castile and Leon and I slept in Castilla la Vieja. These results are a terrible involution & rdquor ;, asserts a socialist voter in the outskirts of the City Hall.
But, despite the incontestable victory of the right, in Las Navas del Marqués another reality has been revealed: Pablo Casado’s ‘neighbors’ have been withdrawing their support. ‘Neighbors’ like this, in quotes. Because, although the president of the popular ones presumes to be from the town (he has his second residence in the municipality), here nobody counts him as one of their own. “He says that he is from here, but no. He is from Madrid and he spends here on vacation & rdquor ;, clarifies a neighbor who claims to have voted for Vox.
Pablo Casado is from everywhere. He was born in Palencia, but he explains that he is an adoptive native of Madrid because he has lived in the capital “more than half his life.” He also claims to be from Tierra de Campos, the Palencia region where his grandfather was from. In his last public interventions, he has said that he feels half Cantabrian, almost from Leon and almost from Elche; that he has a son from Alicante and three brothers who have lived in Asturias. Pablo Casado, the universal countryman, is from there where he gives the rally. He recently acknowledged that “anywhere I go, three cousins of mine appear & rdquor ;.
Turn on the audio. pic.twitter.com/G8yMXdPE9n
– Antuan (@antuanvelazquez) November 7, 2019
How could it be otherwise, he also feels like he belongs to Las Navas del Marqués, because he has his summer residence there. And there he gave one of the last speeches of this electoral campaign in Castilla y León. There, among cows, which is one of the hallmarks of the town, he claimed his belonging to that place. What happens is that his neighbors (from summer) have not responded at all as he expected.
The data
Despite the fact that the PP has imposed itself in this town of 5,160 inhabitants, their results have dropped in all sectors of the municipality. Las Navas del Marqués is a scattered town, with several population centers far from each other. Both in distance and in the drawing of the social structure. While Casado has his home in the noble area of the municipality, the urban center is another movie.
The historic center is an area that, without becoming a demolished town, does present a depressed aspect. There are plenty of empty shops in transfer, houses with the sign ‘For sale’ or those that are boarded up so they don’t occupy them. This area has a high percentage of immigrants, who account for almost 9% of the population. In a census of 5,160 people, 832 are foreigners.
From them, 529 are of Moroccan nationality. They arrived at the beginning of this century to work in the brick sector, coinciding with the real estate bubble. “In this town we had many construction companies that worked in Madrid but had their headquarters here,” explains a waiter from the center of the municipality.
The migration key
This factor is not trivial; consulted several residents of the area, those who have voted for Vox claim to have done so mainly because they believe that immigration has become a problem: “Without being a troubled town, every mess there is is one of these & rdquor ;, Santiago, a 55-year-old man and voter for Abascal’s party, nods at two North Africans sunbathing on a step.
Those who have voted for the PSOE and UP, on the other hand, reject that immigration is a problem for the municipality: “Here you live very well and thank you for the immigrants. They are almost a thousand. Without them, we would have less than 5,000 inhabitants. That would mean less public income in all senses & rdquor ;, points out a socialist voter. In the Town Hall there are signs in Spanish, English, Arabic and Romanian.
It is there, in the urban area, in the most populated area of Las Navas del Marqués, where the PP has lost the most support. Although his party has prevailed with 38.5% of the votes, it has lost six points with respect to the last elections. Interestingly, it is also the area in which the Vox electorate has grown the most: 16.9% compared to the 2019 elections. The far-right formation is thus placed as the second most voted force in that sector.
“Pablo Casado comes here and says he is from the town, as he says he is from Asturias when he goes north. But around town we only see him for the summer procession, with his daughters. He does not live in the town and, although he does not leave the area of the chalets. Immigration is a problem that does not exist in your neighborhood&rdquor ;, finishes off another neighbor.
Where Casado has lost the fewest votes (because his party has dropped in all sectors of the municipality) has been in Ciudad Ducal. The real neighbors of him. It is an area of chalets located on the outskirts of the town. They say from the Tourism area of the City Council that “this was the first luxury urbanization in Spain. Back in the 18th century, the duchess who inherited this marquisate was impressed with the area and launched initiatives such as the resin industry or the railway”.
Also the residential area of Ciudad Ducal, which is a kind of forest paradise in the middle of nowhere. Calling it urbanization is an understatement, because the area itself has little that is urbanized. The roads are dirt and in its domains it has a swamp that fills with tourists in summer. Among them, Pablo Casado.
It is an area of very expensive chalets, absolutely unaffordable for most of the residents of the urban area. Casado’s house, about 300 square meters, It is valued at around 300,000 euros. And that the square meter in the municipality, one of the most affordable in the province, is around 700 euros.
It is there, in Ciudad Ducal, where the popular have lost less support. They have dropped less than one point compared to the 2019 elections. And this has also been the area in which Vox has grown the least: ‘only’ 11.2 points compared to the previous regional ones.
In Ciudad Ducal it is more difficult to find neighbors on the streets. It is a private urbanization, with a doorman at the entrance and a 24-hour video surveillance circuit. In summer it fills up and that means that Las Navas del Marqués triples its usual population. Of the little more than 5,000 neighbors who reside throughout the year, in times of dog days it gets almost 15,000 people.
Cows
But not even in Ciudad Ducal there is a consensus when it comes to supporting Casado. The reason, as strange as it sounds, seems to be the cows: “Casado came to give a rally not long ago and he talked about the macro-farms. The same was a criticism of Alberto Garzón for what he had said. But Casado has to know that there are no macro-farms here & rdquor ;, points out a 60-year-old man who does not want to give his name and who observes the construction works of a new villa in Ciudad Ducal, without confirming if it is his or not.
“That’s where Casado screwed up. It doesn’t matter what you say or what you want to say. In Las Navas del Marqués there are no macro-farms. What has always been a lot of livestock, but extensive. This town was very famous for the quality of the milk from its cows. When the business changed due to European regulations, the livestock sector focused more on the meat industry than on the dairy industry. The meat here is very good, better than any big farm. If you mention Las Navas and the macro-farms in the same message, you are doing it wrong & rdquor ;, he concludes.
With cows or without cows, it seems that the test that these regional elections have involved for Casado has been unsuccessful. Married has not won even in his town. Or, at least, not with the ease that a neighbor is supposed to. Las Navas del Marqués has an urban center where the problems have nothing to do with the luxurious municipality that Casado knows and in which there is not a single immigrant. There, in the real town, where the problems of the people are, is where the bump has been greater.