In the party they consider that it is “a subject of the past”, that it stopped worrying “a long time ago”
The PSOE think this could be last campaign in which the PP invoke ETA. The omen has been going around the socialist headquarters for days, in Madrid’s Calle de Ferraz, until it has become almost a mantra. But this supposed point and end of the recourse to the disappeared terrorist band, continue in the formation that leads Pedro Sánchez, does not obey the fact that the conservatives have the intention of amending and are going to repent as of May 28 of accusations such as that the President of the Government is “more generous with the executioners than with the victims & rdquor ;. The reason is another: the electoral result, they assure, will show that ETA no longer moves vote.
The ‘tracking’ of the PSOE (the surveys that the party carries out daily) make it clear. The controversy over the lists of the aberzales, which include 44 convicted of collaboration or membership in the terrorist organization, has monopolized the first leg of this campaign, but it has not led to any change in voters, according to this story. “It’s a matter of past, that stopped worrying a long time ago. Not only among the youngest, because they did not experience the attacks, but among the entire electorate. The PP has forced the machine into a desperate reaction, concluding that there will be no overturning at the polls. But after Sunday he will no longer be able to use ETA again, not even in the general by the end of the year”, they argue in the socialist direction.
“For us it is a exhausted topic -the same sources continue-. Sánchez reacted harshly and described Bildu’s candidacies as indecent so that there was no doubt. From now on we are not going to enter anymore & rdquor ;. Since the presence of exetarras on the lists of the Aberzale left came to light, only the Aragonese Javier Lambán and the Castilian-La Mancha Emiliano García-Page have criticized the Government’s agreements with its five deputies in Congress, but the discordant note of both barons It is something that in the leadership of the PSOE was taken for granted. discounted. “We are not going to change our script in this last week. Is working. We will continue with positive messages, focused on the management and the problems of the people, who in the end vote locally and regionally& rdquor ;.
The Socialists consider the controversy over the Bildu lists closed and will maintain their campaign model based on local management and Sánchez’s announcements
The national side
It happens, however, that both Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo have raised these elections in a national key. The president of the PP insists that this is about “repeal sanchismo & rdquor ;. The Chief Executive stars in the campaign and grabs the headlines with his continuous announcements of social measures (on housing, the fight against drought or education) that the Council of Ministers approves after to the race. This weekend will advance new initiatives, they explain in their environment. There are several factors that explain this approach. The novelty represented by Feijóo, who reached the conservative leadership a little over a year ago after the forced resignation of Pablo Married. The wear of Sánchez, who needs reactivate his figure. And above all the temporal closeness of the general elections.
He preceding clearer view of local and regional elections just a few months before the election of the next central government stands at 2011. That appointment served for the PSOE to bid farewell to a large part of its power in communities and municipalities, making the feeling of cycle change which was later confirmed by the absolute majority of Mariano Rajoy. But the party did not raise these elections as a first round of the generals. “The situation was very different from now,” recalls a former leader who was part of the executive-. Us we were very bad, losing votes by the bucketload, and the economic situation, in full crisis, It did not allow us to launch ads from the Government like the ones that Sánchez is now launching& rdquor ;.
Except in La Rioja, where there are many doubts, they aspire to revalidate all their regional power and expand the municipal power thanks to Barcelona and Zaragoza
In any case, this time It will not happen again what happened then, they say in the socialist leadership. “There will be no debacle & rdquor ;, they insist. The PSOE is at stake next Sunday much more than the PP: it governs in 9 of the 12 autonomies that hold elections, while the conservatives only two, Murcia and Madrid, where all the polls agree that they will revalidate their mandate. But Sánchez’s collaborators affirm that they will resist. Except in The Rioja, which generates many doubts, the socialists hope to maintain all their communities and expand local governments thanks to the results in large cities such as Barcelona and Zaragoza. But they do not only depend on themselves. In the Valencian Community, for example, who presents himself as the mother of all battles, the president, Ximo Puig, You can improve your results but be fired. Your partners of Commit and We Can they are now worse than four years ago.
Who will win the municipal
About him overall result in the municipal there is division of opinion in the PSOE. Sources from the party leadership anticipate that they will be “there there & rdquor; with the PP, but they stress that the important thing, in reality, is how many communities and municipalities manage to govern, not which party wins in votes in all of Spain.
there are leaders more optimistic. A minister anticipates that the PSOE will surpass the PP in support. “I do not have doubts. On the one hand, we present 300 more lists than them. On the other, the difference in Catalonia It will be huge & rdquor ;, he says. “It is true that during the campaign you live in a bubble, far from reality. You go from meeting to meeting and you only surround yourself with yours. Even so, I see our electorate as very mobilized -concludes this member of the Government-. And when I travel to European capitals I realize that Spain is in fashion who envy us for our measures, the figures for economic growth and the control of inflation. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve seen us out one way and in another, but this climate of opinion It should benefit us & rdquor ;.