It was at a breakfast a few weeks before the elections on May 24, 2015. Alberto Fabra, then still president of the Generalitat Valenciana, acknowledged to a small group of journalists that discouragement had settled in the Valencian PP. Four years earlier, in the 2011 elections, Francisco Camps had swept the polls (he would resign a month later due to the case of the suits), but in that legislature the explosion of the real estate market, the collapse of the savings banks, massive unemployment and, also, the serialization of corruption cases that reached all the institutions governed by the popular. Fabra had a moment of sincerity: "people don't really want to go out and campaign, some are afraid to say that they are from the PP."
Eight years have passed and two regional and municipal elections, in 2015 and 2019, and the Valencian PP, its bases, its militancy, its supporters, its related media actors, have recovered their spirits. They want and believe that they can win, and it is perceived in all forums, public and private; There is no longer any fear of identifying with the initials and the cry of "Pedro Sánchez must be thrown out" has generated a lot of energy in all the events that are being held in the Valencian campaign. Not even in the last regional elections was this change in psychological state perceived: in 2019, as a fact, the PP did not dare to call a central campaign rally in the Plaza de Toros. There was a conviction in the ranks of the party that the desert journey that began in 2015 had not yet been crossed, after twenty years of absolute hegemony (24 in the case of the Valencia City Council). Now yes.
The Valencian PP believes that the worst is over, that the electoral price of corruption that so deteriorated the brand has already been paid (despite the fact that there are still open processes against Francisco Camps, Eduardo Zaplana or Alfonso Rus, among others) and that the Valencian Community, as occurred in the period 1991-1995, will be the springboard that will allow its president to be brought to La Moncloa; then José María Aznar, now Alberto Núñez Feijóo. In addition, the same scheme is repeated as in the indicated period: the PP is strong in Alicante, it was already so in 2015 and 2019, and from this province a possible victory is being encouraged that requires a good result in the city of Valencia . Without the capital, the regional objective will not be achieved. Rita Barberá was always clear about it; she was the precursor of change in the 90s, the one who opened the way for Eduardo Zaplaana to conquer the Generalitat Valenciana.
There is only one difference. In the years of Valencian hegemony, the PP managed to absorb the entire center-right vote after dismantling the Valencian Union. Now, another force, Vox, disputes a part of the market, and threatens to condition the regional and local governments in Valencia. Only that stands in the way, in the opinion of the popular, to repeat the successes of the past. But for now, the mood of the party is different, they believe that now they can settle accounts with the left. There are only a few days left for the 28M, and yesterday in the Plaza de Toros de València (where many former public officials who had been hibernating for years returned) the PP was convinced of victory, as had not happened in eight years.
