“Going with three or four candidates,” the federal leadership warns about the fragmentation of the progressive vote, would be almost as much as “losing the option of change in Galicia.”
He PSOE faces the upcoming Galician and Basque elections with the challenge of pushing for change in Galicia and gaining positions in Euskadi, where it governs in a minority with the PNV. Alternation versus “demanding” continuity, to drag the future government to “more transformative” positions. If in Galicia the PSdG aspires to lead an alternative bloc to the PP, together with BNG and Sumar, in Euskadi the PSE subscribes to the “institutional stability”. Sources from the Basque leadership insist that they will maintain the pact strategy with the PNV and they rule out “completely” the way of EH Bildu together with the confederal left.
The most ambitious objective is the one proposed by the socialists in the Galician elections, after four absolute majorities of the PP and leave as the third force in the Galician Parliament, behind the BNG. The main obstacle to this, which both Ferraz and the PSdG recognize, is the fragmentation of the progressive space. “Going with three or four candidates,” they warn the federal leadership, would be almost as much as “losing the option of change in Galicia.”
Sumar has been quick to reject any option that involves a coalition or other formulas to avoid the dispersion of the vote, while the socialists hope that they will at least share a ballot with Podemos. Mainly in the provinces of Lugo and Ourense where they have the most difficulties in overcoming the 5% threshold. The purple ones are already an extra-parliamentary force in Galicia after not winning any seats in 2019. For the PSdG, these elections are the “only opportunity” before a popular candidate, Alfonso Rueda, who has not run for election before and has a lower degree of knowledge and approval than his predecessor, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Given this, they raise the “Besteiro option” and the need for no progressive vote to be transformed into representation.
José Ramón Besteiro makes his debut as the head of the list in these elections, just like Eneko Andueza in the Basque elections. The renewal is transversal as the majority of competitors find themselves in the same situation. The Galician president, who succeeded Feijóo in May 2022, will appear for the first time and Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu will hand over the baton to Inmanol Pradales. However, the Galician and Basque socialists agree in describing both as continuityists and “dolphins.” of his predecessors. They also They blame “heavy wear and tear”which the PSE insists on due to the unexpected departure of Urkullu, which they seek to take advantage of to gain ground.
Andueza presents itself with a profile that seeks transversality by combining progressive values and agreements with nationalism, but from a less conflictive perspective. Outstretched hand, they say in the PSE, but also “transformative ambition.” “We have a vision less subject to the way of seeing the world that nationalists have. “We can contribute more in line with governance and away from the classic tensions of nationalism,” the candidate’s entourage indicates. Basque and Eibarto conclude that “when we are in the Spanish and Basque Governments, that is when transfers or infrastructures have been most developed.”
The mirror of the PSC
With a message that appeals to stability and the capacity for agreement, despite differences, the leader of the Basque socialists He will present his candidacy this Sunday. To do this, he has chosen the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, as master of ceremonies, as a mirror in which to look at himself. His challenge, as his team recognizes, is to preserve to the greatest extent possible the votes that the PSOE received in the past elections of 23-J. Some elections in which they were the first force, but aware that voting is done differently and with other keys in the regional elections. However, they aspire to strengthen their new voters and strengthen their positions in a future coalition executive.
The opposition parties in the Galician Parliament agree in placing the technical advance of the elections in the month of March or even February. Like the Basques, the deadline would be July. The advance in Esukadi has cooled due to the need that the PNV would have to make its new candidate known. Despite this, the PSE’s analysis is that perhaps the call will not last too long because “what they gain by making their candidate known they lose through wear and tear.” that they would drag. Both Urkullu and Rueda have assured that their decision to set a date will not be determined by what the other does.
If both appointments do not coincide, Ferraz will be able to deploy his entire structure in each campaign and ensure the presence of the President of the Government and the ministers in respective territories, without having to divide them up. So far, the PSOE has tried to reinforce Besteiro’s profile and give him as much focus as possible. He led the candidacy for the 23-J elections for Lugo, he was given the parliamentary group’s turn to speak in the first plenary session of the legislature, so that he would also be the first to do so in a co-official language, and he was part of the commission PSOE negotiator for the investiture pacts.
The BNG warning
An old personal friend of Pedro Sánchez, Besteiro is the consensus bet in the PSdG with the mantra that “there is an opportunity for change in Galicia.” In the federal leadership they argue in harmony that “for the first time there is a real opportunity for change, led by the PSdG.” In the BNG, strengthened with Ana Pontón as leader of the opposition during the last legislature, they warn that the socialists should not be confused with the enemy. At least, if they really want to prioritize a change of Government and not settle for fight to regain second place. Despite everything, the Galician nationalists assure that the polls give them as much or more capacity than the PSOE to attract voters who in the past elections opted for the PP ballot.
If a reversal occurs, Feijóo’s leadership would suffer a second setback after 23-J and in his own fiefdom. The campaign messages, however, will bear little resemblance to those of the last general elections, presented as a dichotomy between the continuity of the progressive coalition or the alternative led by Feijóo and with Santiago Abascal as vice president. A non-existent framework in Euskadi, where PNV and EH Bildu compete for hegemony, and also in Galicia, without Vox presence in the Pazo do Hórreo.