With the decision to reinforce the hard core of the PSOE with important personalities such as María Jesús Montero, Patxi López, Pilar Alegría and Miquel Iceta, Pedro Sánchez is trying to get the party out of the political indigence in which it has been plunged in recent times, recover its presence in the Spanish public debate and turn it once again into an effective instrument for defending the Government’s policies. With this internal revolution, the socialist leader tries rescue that PSOE that was for a long time a machine to win elections. An arduous task when the Socialists face the wear and tear of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and its consequences in skyrocketing inflation and dim energy prospects, added to the internal noise of the government coalition. That is why Sánchez needs more than ever a strong PSOE, which transmits stimulating messages to mobilize its voters who, as was seen in the Andalusian elections in June and can be seen in all the polls, including the last one by the CIS, move between discouragement and disinterest, while the PP has triggered its electoral expectations with the change of leadership.
The radical movement carried out in the party reflects to what extent the President of the Government is aware that needs to stop the idea of changing the electoral cycle that is spreading day by day and to put a stop to the feeling that these dire prospects for the PSOE may also mark the end of its personal political cycle, at least in Spanish politics. The changes in the leadership of the PSOE, which represent a complete self-amendment to what was decided just nine months ago in the last federal congress, also mean the end of internal sanchismo, understood as that of those unconditional supporters who supported him in the reconquest of leadership, the motion of censure against Rajoy and the formation of the Government with United We Can. Those, now, feel like orphans. But not the vast majority of socialist leaders who applaud Sánchez’s effort to reunite, revitalize and raise the spirits of the party and its followers and his intention to seek a good result in the municipal and regional elections of May 2023, which serve as a launch pad to win the generals again at the end of that same year.
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With the incorporation of these heavyweights to the leadership of the PSOE, who will in turn form part of the committee of nine people who will meet every Monday in Moncloa with the president, the dissociations between the government and the party will also endeither. It will be those nine leaders, among whom will be the director of the Presidency cabinet, Óscar López, rescued in the government remodeling a year ago, who in practice will direct and coordinate the action of the Executive and the PSOE. In that group they will have a significant role ice cream and the Speaker in the Senate, Eva Granadostwo influential leaders of the PSC, the sister party, which has come out stronger of this readjustment.
The presence of Iceta and Granados, like that of Montero, is not only aimed at improving and reviving the general socialist discourse, but also at increasing their presence in Catalonia and Andalusia, two territories where they need to achieve a good result in the municipal elections but especially in general. It is almost impossible to govern in Spain if you do not have the support of the voters of those two communities -and of Madrid, which is considered lost- and Sánchez knows it. But he should not forget either that turning the situation around the party is not that easy, nor does it depend only on a change of names, but also on the policies that are adopted.