In Genoa they avoid the Vox framework and ensure that the decision has been made: they will continue to persecute the voter that they can seize from the PSOE, “the most urgent and complicated”, even at the risk that the most conservative voter will continue in Vox
The Vox motion of no confidence has given oxygen to government, but it has also consolidated the position of PP in the block on the right. It is the reading they do in Genoa. Some leaders acknowledge that things have turned out “better than they expected& rdquor; with its leader betting on keeping a low profile and defending abstention. While in vox there is some relief at having averted disaster of Ramón Tamames in the chamber, the popular believe that the ultra party will face “a severe reputation problem & rdquor; within their own electorate.
And despite the outstretched hand of Santiago Abascal — “let’s understand each other in the future to make an alternative to this Government, clean slate & rdquor; he said from the rostrum — the PP will not alter its plan for the May elections. Alberto Núñez Feijóo continues to prioritize wresting votes for the center from the PSOE to widen its majority, at the risk of even allowing some voters to remain with Vox in the regional and municipal elections.
Sources from Genoa admit that it is impossible to “cover your head and feet equally with the same blanket”, but they insist: “The decision has been made”.
The PP believes that it must be fully used to consolidate a percentage of the centrist vote, which comes from the PSOE and which could support Feijóo on this occasion. Although the CIS warned a few days ago that this transfer has begun to decline (in February it was 8.8% and now in March it stands at 6.6%) there are still around half a million voters who could go from the socialist acronyms to the popular ones.
And Feijóo will continue to focus on those voters, without changing your roadmap, staying away from Vox and with his own discourse, which is committed even to giving the social battles most identified with the left. The PP plan has to be applied in May because it is the first electoral appointment they face. In Genoa they do not hide that the ideal scenario would have been that of some generals before or at the same time. But, even so, they propose the May appointment as a kind of first round in which Feijóo will test his credentials as a candidate for the presidency of the Government.
For weeks there has been a change in the strategy of the PP. Not long ago, the projection made by the conservatives pointed to the fact that they could take several places of weight away from the socialists. Now the message is that they will win the next elections in votes. The formation of regional and municipal governments remains to be seen. Many of these places see them in a technical tie, with the exception of Madrid and Murcia (they will keep them without difficulties), La Rioja (the government continues to see clearly) and, depending on the week, there are territories that they see with more possibilities than others . This is the case of the Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Aragon and even the Valencian Community. “The balance can tip to one side or the opposite,” they acknowledge.
Be that as it may, the approach in the PP is that of “put all the meat on the spit” to go ahead with Feijóo’s proposal and that, they repeat, necessarily involves removing the PSOE’s vote. They understand that the most conservative voters who decide to stay with Vox, after seeing the May result, “will make the leap& rdquor; to its initials. “Many will return home & rdquor ;, they say in Genoa, focusing on the fact that Vox draws heavily from voters who were previously PP voters.
The “useful vote & rdquor; and “joining the winning option”, they say, will come as it happens in all electoral processes. And from there, the strategic decision to bet on the most complicated and urgent: to make a hole in the Sánchez electorate. Then there will be an appeal to the rest of the voters who could see after the regional and municipal elections “the only possible alternative & rdquor; to PSOE and United We Can.
“Vox was wrong& rdquor;
In addition, the other message that they repeat endlessly after the “show” of the motion of censure, they say in Feijóo’s environment, is the “mistake & rdquor; de Abascal when raising the motion of censure. Although Cuca Gamarra assured that they would abstain “out of respect & rdquor; Tamames, the decision to abstain was made by the leader of the PP in December without knowing the name of the candidate. It is true that Abascal advanced that his intention was to present an independent.
And that detail was always important in Genoa: they understood that a motion headed by Abascal was not the same as that of another person who did not lead a rival party. Even so, Gamarra’s speech was measured to the millimeter. Without attacks or mentions of the Vox leader, but marking a clear border in what the PP represents with respect to the ultras. “In politics wishes cannot be confused with reality and anxiety with parliamentary work. The polls will say no to Sánchez, not this motion & rdquor ;, settled the general secretary of the PP.