The always complicated preparation of the electoral lists is generating tensions in the socialist executives of Alicante and Castellón. So much so that the president of the Generalitat and leader of the PSPV, Ximo Puig, has had to position himself and defend the autonomy of the candidates to prepare their teams for the next municipal elections.
It was to be expected that the candidate Ana Barceló would have to live with the control of the group by Ángel Franco, but not so much that the mayoress of Castellón, Amparo Marco (the only PSPV mayoress of the three provincial capitals) would even lose the voting in the executive
The candidate for mayor of Valencia, Sandra Gómez, has had much fewer problems throughout this process, who has been presenting her signings without any opposition. After passing the internal votes, the list (which will include, among other women, Núria Llopis, María Pérez and Dolors López) will be ordered and definitively approved in an extraordinary regional committee to be held on March 7.
In Castellón, the situation is much more tense. In the executive two lists were presented, both headed (how could it be otherwise) by Amparo Marco. The problem is that only one had the endorsement of the mayoress of Castellón who had incorporated independents into it with the idea of forming her next municipal team. However, in the vote, she won by one vote the other candidacy, the one sponsored by the general secretary of the local PSPV, Germán Renau, who gave more weight to the supporters of the deputy in Congress.
The fracture in Castellón is not new given that Renau and Marco already faced each other in the mayoral primaries in 2014. In last year's congress, it also seemed that there was going to be a battle, but an agreement was finally reached and Renau was elected general secretary and José Luis López, spokesman for the government team and person of the highest confidence of the mayoress, vice-secretary.
Given the tension, the president had to raise his voice this week. On Tuesday, during a visit to Castellón, he stressed that "the mayoress has the confidence of the party leadership" and emphasized that "all the people involved know that the objective is to advance the progress of the city of Castelló, and That is above any question of a personal nature".
Party sources explained to this newspaper that these statements are also valid for the case of Alicante and confirm Puig's support for the candidates to whom he gives "room" to prepare the teams with which they aspire to form a government. The PSPV assumes that there will be an agreement and does not contemplate any other scenario or the need for the party leadership to make a unilateral decision.
Once again, the legendary influence of Ángel Franco and his ability to change horses in the middle of the race if necessary reappear in the Alicante group. While the former Minister of Health multiplies her schedule of interviews with different groups, from the headquarters strategically installed in front of the Provincial Council, the uncomfortable vote last Sunday gave more votes than any active councilor to her rival in the primaries, María José Adsuar , and a significant support to several councilors of the municipal group, such as the general secretary Miguel Millana, who will fight to occupy a site.
The vote is not binding, but those who obtained more support have more arguments than a week ago. The paradox of the matter is that Adsuar, presented as the leader of "Sanchismo", competed for the candidacy with an "anti-Franco" message that blamed the ex-senator's actions for the successive failures of the party in the city. The last one, the recent crisis that cost the municipal spokesperson Francesc Sanguino, an "independent" who lost his pulse with Franco, as several of his predecessors had lost before.
Barceló knows that winning Barcala will be difficult, because the probable collapse of Ciudadanos, the lack of leadership in Vox and the current mayor's own discreet profile can benefit him when it comes to collecting the conservative vote among an electorate tired of conflicting leaders. And he also knows that to do so he needs to provide faces and names capable of mobilizing the electorate.
The deadly triple top is to make that compatible with the pacts to win a starting position - at least among the top 10 - that local families whose constant infighting has only harmed their opposition work intend to impose on them.
Everything has to be clear before March 11, when the party's National Committee will ratify the municipal lists of municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, as well as the regional lists.
