In the corridors of Ferraz there is a poster with a close-up of Pedro Sánchez on a white background. “Now yes”, it reads superimposed in large red letters. It is a “now” longed for by the socialists, a past, 2019, when the ballot boxes smiled at them. Four years later, not now. Debacle. Sinking. Punishment. Spain censors Pedro Sánchez and sinks the PSOE. Of nine communities that governed, the Socialists only retain three: Asturias, but which is at the expense of voting by mail, Castilla-La Mancha -Page was in the eaves throughout the night- and Navarra, the latter pending pacts and the Bildu-factor. A dilapidated territorial power, a very harsh corrective from the Spanish in an appointment set as a preamble to the general elections that will be at the end of the year.
In the first electoral appointment at the national level since 2019, they do not pass the cotton test. The polls certify the dynamics of the vote against Sánchez, against the Government because La Moncloa and Ferraz accepted and endorsed a dynamic in a national key, starring in and monopolizing advertisements. The Socialists bleed to death, in an electoral catastrophe that jeopardizes Sánchez's project.
The mayors and, above all, the regional presidents, trusted that the voter would value the management of the one in charge in these years, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as had happened in the last regional elections held.
But 28-M leaves readings such as that the penalty for the candidates has been such that it has not mattered to distance themselves and be critical like the Aragonese Javier Lambán, who loses the government -Emiliano García-Page himself, another critical baron, was close to about to lose power-, or more similar to the President of the Government such as the Valencian Ximo Puig or the Balearic Francina Armengol, also evicted. Or that the presence of Sánchez at rallies in different parts of Spain did not even help the Socialists to retain in those fiefdoms: Seville, Puertollano, Alcalá de Henares, Gijón, Valencia -co-governed-, Palma de Mallorca…
Loss of municipal power
«I have traveled all over Spain, I have trodden a lot of streets. The perception in the government and in the party was one thing and what you perceived on the street was another.. Yes, something had been improved, but there was and remains a lot to work on ». This is how a prominent socialist leader summarizes the state of the party, recognizing a scheme to vote against Sánchez in these elections.
Two images exemplify the socialist collapse: in just one hour, between 9 and 10 p.m., the red color disappeared from the Spanish map to turn blue; they lose “the soul of the PSOE”, Seville and as a symptom of decline, they lose Huelva, Granada, Toledo, Castellón, Segovia, Burgos, Gijón, Murcia, Palma…. until Valladolid, which was not included in any catastrophic forecast. Shovelfuls of dirt in the Sánchez project, which is running out of steam on the springboard right now. Of the 22 provincial capitals that the PSOE won in 2019, it has lost 15.
“These elections are about electing mayors and regional presidents,” claimed the socialist candidates. But the Government raised these municipal and regional as a platform to sell management. The candidates reeled off and did pedagogy with the measures implemented from the Council of Ministers, and Sánchez finished off with ads, some new, others recovered.
A strategy that bothered some territories, because they saw how their demands were not winked at and their big day was eclipsed with initiatives of a national nature. “It was an advertising strategy made in Moncloa without properly calibrating the route that this could have”, expose socialist officials. With the expectation in the game that it is necessary for Sánchez to instil oxygen to a patient with worrisome vital signs. It happens that the President of the Government remodeled the socialist leadership less than a year ago and has already been causing specific crises in the Executive.