There will be no coalition between the PP and the Union of the Navarro People (UPN). In fact, there has not even been contact yet between its leaders, just 48 hours before the deadline to close a joint candidacy expires.. And it is highly unlikely that there will be, given the cooling of relations between the popular and the regionalists. The leader of UPN, Javier Esparza, has not yet spoken with the president of the Navarrese PP, Javier García, at a time when UPN deputies could be essential to leave Bildu out of the game, through an agreement with the Socialist Party de Navarra (PSN) by María Chivite, one of the three regional socialist leaders who are still standing after May 28.
“There will be no coalition. They have not called us because they want to humiliate us,” sources from the PP board of Navarra make ugly, where they consider that UPN prefers to ally with Chivite in the regional government rather than do it with the popular ones in the general elections on July 23, as has been the tradition. since 2011.
UPN was the party with the most votes in the regional elections on May 28, but the right does not add up. However, the regionalists could agree with Chivite to prevent it from depending again on Bildu's abstention, as in 2019.
“They have to choose between agreeing with the PSOE or the PP,” say the popular, who add that “Esparza does not want a coalition with the PP because then Chivite would not agree with them” the regional government.
On Monday, the PP campaign spokesman, Borja Sémper, assured that “in principle” “no” PP coalition is planned. Other Genoa leaders do not close that door, but Javier García's team does rule it out, given the latest tectonic movements in the Navarrese center-right. The relationship worsened in two phases. The first, when the deputy secretary of Organization of the PP, Miguel Tellado, led the talks to demand from UPN an “equal to equal” pact.. The second, with the signing of the two wayward deputies with Esparza and expelled from the regionalist formation, Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero. Later, the PP attacked Esparza for his alleged rapprochement with the Socialist Party.
useful vote
Once it is assumed that there will be no coalition in Navarra, the popular ones take action and try to invoke the useful vote of the center-right. In fact, they assure that not going with the most voted brand in this community will not prevent them from getting two deputies, the same ones that Navarra Suma currently has.. «The only alternative to Pedro Sánchez in Navarra is Feijóo, and people know it. The national vote will be different »than the regional one, they explain in the PP. “If they throw themselves into the arms of the PSOE, they will leave the center-right just for us, and we will capitalize on it,” the same sources add.
In this region, five seats are distributed in the Congress of Deputies. The sum of UPN and PP always gets two, and the same thing happened when Ciudadanos joined them. The other three are capitalized by the left. Normally one per game. If they go separately, it could change the balance of forces, due to the effect of D'Hondt's Law.
Esparza's team has not yet confirmed whether it will explore a pact of measures, or a legislature, or a coalition, but it does contemplate the cordon sanitaire to the Abertzale left, according to the sources consulted.. Between the UPN (15 deputies) and the PSN (11) they add up to an absolute majority and they would not even need Geroa Bai, Chivite's preferred partner.
Of course, Esparza has asked Pedro Sánchez to “clarify before July 23 if Chivite is going to be president of Navarra with Bildu again” or, on the contrary, they negotiate another sum. The UPN leader has assured this week that “Chivite will only be president of Navarre with Bildu and this is something that all Spaniards need to know, and all Spaniards should know before July 23 if this is going to be allowed.”