Genoa vetoes the candidate convicted of mistreatment and tense the dialogue with Vox in Valencia
The negotiation between the Popular Party and Vox is tense in the Valencian Community. With barely 24 hours left before the first meeting of the conservative presidential candidate for the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, with the delegation of Santiago Abascal to negotiate a possible investiture, Genoa has set a red line. The popular ones will not accept the presence in the autonomous government of a person convicted of sexist violence. This was stated on Monday by the national spokesman for the PP, Borja Sémper. He did not name names, but it is clear who he is referring to: Carlos Flores Juberías, sentenced to a year in prison 11 years ago for psychological abuse of his ex-wife, regional candidate for Vox and aspiring to occupy a vice-presidency together with Mazón, following the agreed model in Castile and Leon.
“Genoa's specific position towards a person who has been convicted of mistreatment is that they should not dedicate themselves to public life. There are some open conversations that our colleagues in Valencia will resolve. And it goes everywhere. We believe that a person convicted of abuse should not go into politics,” insisted Sémper at the press conference after the meeting of the steering committee. “Anyone who has been convicted of sexist violence is a red line,” he reiterated..
Sémper's statements come at a critical time, and only add more pressure to an already complicated deal. The Valencian PP, led by Carlos Mazón, has held meetings with the Socialists (last Thursday) and with Compromís (this Monday) in their search for support for the investiture. In both cases, the abstention offer has been slammed, so with its 40 seats it needs at least 10 of Vox's 13 (99 deputies in the Cortes) to be sworn in as president of the Generalitat. However, this was not the opinion of the Valencian PP a few moments before. Asked about the possible investiture negotiation with Flores in his appearance before the media after the meeting with Compromís, the popular regional coordinator and number three of Mazón, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, assured that “the PP has not vetoed anyone”.. Sources from the organization in Valencia later assured that there was nothing to add to Pérez's opinion, thus implying that they did not share the Genoa guideline.
Genoa has maintained its desire to try to govern alone to the end, and the popular candidates will try to carry that condition to the end to stop Vox's expectations in its tracks. But authorized party sources acknowledge that the case of the Valencian Community is “even more difficult”, since the result that PP and Vox have obtained in the 28-M elections is a carbon copy of the result that the two forces obtained in Castilla and Lion. In this region, PP and Vox govern in coalition, and Mañueco ceded to those of Abascal a convincing booty: the presidency of the Cortes, the vice presidency and three councils.
#Live | Sémper, about the Vox candidate in the Valencian Community: “Anyone who has been convicted of sexist violence for us is a red line” pic.twitter.com/sK3K64UKNl
— Europa Press (@europapress) June 12, 2023
The red line that Sémper has raised this Monday tests Vox's fidelity to its head of the list, with the composition of the Bureau and the Presidency of the regional Parliament as the first station to be overcome by the two right-wing formations on June 26 , date marked for the constitution of the chamber. The first meeting for the investiture takes place this Tuesday. The initial forecast is that Carlos Flores attends the meeting scheduled in the Cortes.
Sources close to Flores recalled that the invitation to the meeting was “in the handwriting” of Carlos Mazón to the candidate himself as head of the Vox list. In addition, they highlighted that the popular ones had no qualms about defending the profile of the professor of Constitutional Law for the Valencian Transparency Council, when he was questioned as a member of this advisory body of the Generalitat during the last legislature by the PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and Unidas Podemos .