The failure of Olona and Teresa Rodríguez: the end of the loose verses of the new politics

Teresa Rodríguez and Macarena Olona are separated by an ideological abyss, but their political careers have certain parallels. The rise of Vox and Podemos consolidated them as two important assets for their formations, although they ended up facing the leadership and began their own path with the general elections as a litmus test. However, the electoral advance left them without room for maneuver. And this 23-J consummated his great failure.

Olona and Rodríguez were also rivals in the Andalusian elections last year, an election that marked a turning point for both. The first of them, from Alicante, arrived in Andalusia after being a spokesperson for Vox in Congress; After the absolute majority of Juanma Moreno, he left politics due to illness and ended up leaving the party. Rodríguez, who had led Podemos in Andalusia for years, presented himself with Adelante, his new party, after being expelled from the parliamentary group for his divorce with the party of Pablo Iglesias amid accusations of turncoat; He won two deputies to consolidate the project and abandoned institutional politics due to his commitment to not be there for more than eight years..

Thirteen months later, both Olona and Rodríguez arrived at the general elections accused of dividing the voters of their former parties.. However, neither of them came close to contesting a single deputy. Olona ran with Caminando Juntos for the ten provinces in which he had managed to gather endorsements, but he barely got 5,500 votes. In Granada, the constituency for which she was running, the results have been even below average: 430 ballots. Not even 0.1%.

Teresa Rodríguez had returned to her job as a teacher and was not the candidate for Adelante Andalucía, although both she and her partner, the former mayor of Cádiz José María González Kichi, had turned to the campaign as number 2 and 3 on the list. They were the two best-known faces of their new brand and they intended to bring to Congress a deputy of “Andalusian obedience” for the Cádiz constituency, although they were far from the objective. His left-wing and Andalusian party only obtained 9,000 votes, 1.4%.

The advance, with the changed foot

This 23-J caught both of them with the wrong foot. Olona formed the party three weeks before the elections and had no implementation in the province of Granada – he had registered at the house of the president of Vox when he presented himself to the Andalusians – but he developed a campaign against time and with a very limited budget. His objective was to squeeze his image and program actions that would attract attention, as evidenced by his campaign start in a brothel with women covered with masks.. “A usual place for politicians,” he said. His candidate for Valencia was the president of the Association of Sex Workers, Susana Pastor.

Olona tried to mobilize abstentionists in very specific voting niches. As number two for Granada he had Father Johnny, an evangelical pastor of gypsy ethnicity. The evangelists have a certain incidence in the city, to the point that the new mayoress, Marifrán Carazo (PP), campaigned in a temple participating in one of the cults of this community. Some incidence, but not enough.

Teresa Rodríguez's party, Adelante Andalucía, had had more experience and implementation in Cádiz, where Kichi had governed the capital for the last eight years.. In addition, the formation has two regional deputies in the Andalusian Parliament and, although without success, had presented lists in numerous municipalities in local elections. After achieving just eight councilors in all of Andalusia, they ruled out the possibility of joining Sumar and only ran for the Cádiz constituency.

During the campaign they sought media attention with uncomplicated actions and without fear of confrontation. From a controversial billboard in Madrid, going through a failed breast-feeding attempt and kissing with his candidate in front of the Vox headquarters. “We cannot stay in political correctness, in statements to the press and in intervention in the institutions. We are leaving the rest of the public spaces to the reactionary withdrawal,” said the party leader, Teresa Rodríguez, who insisted on “recovering the streets, which Vox now has.”.

The party has announced a “reflection process” starting in September before results that they consider “very bad”. Getting an Andalusian deputy to be key in Madrid was the ultimate goal of the project, which is suffering a setback that will be difficult to overcome. With nationalists from other territories being key in the formation of the Government, the coup is even more painful. The candidate for the Congress of Deputies, the historic leader of the Andalusian Party Pilar González, has announced that she is abandoning institutional politics, leaving the party orphaned in leadership.

At the moment, both Adelante Andalucía and Caminando Juntos have announced their intention to consolidate their projects. Olona's party believes that, given the circumstances, the results are “unbeatable”. The one from Rodríguez has announced a “collective debate” to renew himself and look for new leadership. It is another of the consequences of this 23-J: the possible goodbye of the two loose verses of the new policy.