The still general secretary of the PSPV, Ximo Puig, explained during the National Committee last Saturday that just 38,000 votes prevented a third term of the left in the Valencian Community. A figure that the new socialist ombudsman in Les Corts, José Muñoz, insisted on this week, and which denotes that every vote counts.
In this sense, the possible appearance of a federation of independent parties of a "progressive nature" such as the one proposed by the mayor of Ontinyent and former president of the Valencia Provincial Council with the PSPV, Jorge Rodríguez, seeks to make the recovery of the Valencian left more difficult in 2027, especially in the region of the now enemy of socialism.
Yesterday, in Les Notícias del Matí de À Punt, the leader of Ens Uneix declared his intention to "bring together the independent parties of the Valencian Community so that they have representation in supra-municipal bodies such as the Valencian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces".
Sources around Rodríguez explained to this newspaper that the intention is to create a federation of independent municipal parties ("each one would maintain their homeland") to compete in the municipal and regional elections of 2027.
They consider that there is room to grow outside the two large state parties "after the disappearance of Ciudadanos and the decline of Compromís." Although these types of projects have historically failed and the electoral bar of 5% is very difficult to overcome - let them tell Unides Podem, recently, and the historic Bloc, in the past - they believe that they are facing "a favorable scenario ".
Rodríguez's idea is to be able to bring together all the independents interested in this initiative at the end of January in the Valencia Provincial Council, a key institution for Ens Uneix after reaching an agreement with the PP to govern and try to strengthen its project. The idea is to grow "like an oil stain" and, after the ratification of the sentence that exempts Rodríguez from all guilt of his management at the head of the Provincial Council of Valencia, "the process has accelerated", since previously reluctant councilors have taken the step.
Rodríguez's party has already maintained contacts with important independent mayors such as those of Nules and Alberic or the mayors of Calp (formerly of the PP) and Oliva. Also with former leaders of Compromís in a city as important for the left as Gandia. In addition, there is already a group of independent parties such as UCIN that in the last municipal elections obtained 8,034 votes and 14 councilors. Ens Uneix reached 11,933 votes and 38 councilors. Likewise, in Oliva the independents scratched more than 5,000; in Nules, 2,693; and in Calp, 1,844.
Although it is unthinkable that these votes could be transferred as is to regional elections - in addition, around 125,000-130,000 ballots are needed to have representation in Les Corts -, the truth is that they can harm the left, especially at the local level. or Provincial Councils, if the project is consolidated. It already happened with other previous operations such as the split of the PSPV advocated by former councilor Rafael Blasco.
In fact, in the socialist ranks they denounced the parallelism between both leaders after Rodríguez gave the Presidency of the Provincial Council to the PP. No one is aware that, in return, the prominence that the Popular Party is giving to the mayor of Ontinyent makes this work of territorial expansion easier for him.
And why would the hole be larger on the left?
Ontinyent, Rodríguez's stronghold and where everything was born (it has 12 of the 21 councilors in the City Council) is a good example of where the mayor's party draws from. In the municipal elections in May, the PSPV obtained 4,000 fewer votes than in the regional elections (where Ens Uneix did not appear); the PP, 2,200 fewer votes; and Compromís, 1,700. The differences show that the bite on the left is larger. Institutionally, what happened in the Provincial Council of Valencia, where PSPV and Compromís were stripped of the only major institution that they had the option of maintaining this legislature, is the most obvious proof.
