Barbón "accelerates" his pact with IU in Asturias
Adrián Barbón announced this Wednesday that the negotiation he is maintaining with the United Left to form a “progressive” and “reformist” government in Asturias “is accelerating”, he defined, given the loss of power of the PSOE after the regional and municipal elections in May and the proximity of the general ones.
The socialist leader made this statement at the end of the debate where he was invested as president of the Principality, in the first vote and by an absolute majority, after receiving the support of the 23 left-wing deputies of the General Board: 19 from the PSOE, three from Convocatoria por Asturias -IU and the representative of Podemos, who announced her support shortly before the plenary session after consulting the militancy on the issue and aware that she will not enter the Executive when Barbón questions the “stability” of her party.
The leader of the IU in Asturias, Ovidio Zapico, urged Barbón to close his pact before the elections this Sunday to favor the “comeback” that PSOE and Sumar are looking for this Sunday. “I am sure that the best thing for our social base to go to vote encouraged and convinced that it is possible to win the elections is that we achieve an agreement in Asturias,” he argued.
Adriana Lastra congratulates Adrián Barbón after the investiture vote. EFE
The relevance of the Principality in the PSOE power map has increased after the debacle of the municipal and regional elections in May. Adrián Barbón is now the only autonomous socialist president next to Emiliano García-Page in Castilla-La Mancha. In this context, the number one on the PSOE list for Congress for Asturias, Adriana Lastra, showed off this Wednesday her great harmony with the president-elect and was one of the first to embrace Barbón after his inauguration.
The leader of the PP, Diego Canga, asked Barbón to prevent Asturias from being “an island of the left within a country that has turned towards the center right” and maintained his offer of great pacts but warned that “if it is tied to IU , it makes it very difficult for us to reach out ». “Centrality is not agreeing with IU,” he remarked.
Barbón was willing to reach agreements with the PP, Podemos or Foro, although not with Vox, with four of the 45 deputies of the regional parliament, which he keeps, like the last legislature, out of all contact. The president-elect has admitted that he would have liked to govern alone and his goal is for the new Governing Council to be constituted on August 1.