The cycle that began in 2015, with the Valencian left governing the main institutions, after 20 years of popular government, is coming to an end. Change of cycle, again; this time in favor of the Valencian PP, which absorbs the collapse of Ciudadanos and which will be able to recover, with the support of Vox, the Generalitat Valenciana and the main cities, including the capitals of Valencia, Castelló and Alicante. In other words, Ximo Puig will not be able to maintain the Valencian presidency, which will be held shortly by Carlos Mazón. The improvement in PSPV results compared to 2019 has not been enough to sustain the Botànic project: the weakness of Compromís and the impossibility of Unides Podem to overcome the electoral barrier of 5% have been key factors.
A similar situation has occurred in the Valencian capital, the jewel in the Crown, which will have María José Catalá as mayoress. The left managed to conquer the city eight years ago, after 24 years of governments led by Rita Barberá. Compromís was, then, the force with the most votes, which allowed Joan Ribó to hold the mayoralty, until now. This Sunday, despite the fact that the Valencianistas and the PSPV have resisted at the polls, the result of the PP, plus the rise of Vox, allows the right to reconquer a symbolic city for this formation. In Alicante the forecasts were fulfilled, and the PP will maintain the government. More surprising is the case of Castelló: the popular tsunami also ends with the socialist mayoress.
The Valencian result offers several readings of its causes. The first is the weakness of Unides Podem, a coalition between Podem and Esquerra Unida that has been shaken by internal tensions in the political space to the left of the PSOE. It seems reasonable to assess whether it was opportune to present Yolanda Díaz's Sumar project a few weeks after 28-M due to the effects it could have on an autonomous region, the Valencian one, where the stability of Unides Podem was essential to reach the Valencian Parliament and sustain the project of botanic. There are more reasons. It seems evident that the framework generated by the PP to turn these regional and local elections into plebiscites, with the aim of "ending sanchismo" has had a clear effect in the Valencian Community.
The efforts of Ximo Puig to try to make the political campaign develop in a "Valencian key" to assess the management of its Executive, have not had the expected results. There remains a third cause that will have to be assessed: the effect of the absence of Mónica Oltra, the woman who led Compromís to the success of 2015 and 2019. The decline of the Valencian formation has been another factor that has made it difficult to achieve the dream of reissuing the Botanical III. The Valencian Community is once again on the right, and the causes indicated are only epidermal, with effects that will be perceived shortly in Spain. Surely, there are deeper causes that go beyond the regional scope. Spain has changed course, they have new airs of conservative tonality, and the Valencian result is the most evident proof.
