The PSOE fears that the debate on the succession of Sánchez will open during the campaign of 23-J

The shock wave of the advance of general elections overlapped in just 12 hours the debacle of the PSOE in the municipal and regional elections of May 28. With this change of direction by “assuming the results firsthand” Pedro Sánchez managed to stop an internal rebellion in the territories affected by the punishment at the polls and postpone the debate on his succession.

In Ferraz, however, it is worrying that the melon of the relief of the secretary general -if he finally fails to revalidate his mandate at the head of La Moncloa- will open before the scrutiny of July 23. For this reason, in the argument that the national leadership sent to its leaders last week to set the guidelines for the messages it wants to disseminate, a specific reference to the matter has been included since, according to what they argue at the request of this newspaper, “it is a question appellant from the press and an answer is given”.

To the question of “should Pedro Sánchez leave if he loses?”, it is urged to answer that “those who now have the floor are the Spanish men and women”, alluding to the next verdict of the polls, but also that the president ” is today the greatest political asset of the PSOE”. “It has been and will be in this campaign that is crucial for Spain,” they point out in their internal document in which they refer to these elections as “the most important in decades.”

«I have more strength than ever, more desire than ever, to win the elections. Because this trip does not end here, the social majority of this country does not deserve it, “said Sánchez precisely yesterday at an act in Dos Hermanas.

In those held on 28-M, the Socialists lost six of the nine autonomous governments they presided over – the Valencian Community, Aragon, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and La Rioja – and some of their most symbolic municipal fiefdoms, such as Seville and Valladolid. In many cases, their candidates even grew in votes compared to 2019, but not even with the sum of the parties located to their left, they managed to surpass that of PP and Vox.

Now only two barons, Emiliano García-Page, in Castilla-La Mancha, and Adrián Barbón, in Asturias, will continue to run their territories with an absolute majority and broad parliamentary support, respectively.. In the case of Navarra, María Chivite will again need Bildu's abstention to be able to reissue her tripartite with Geroa Bai and the coalition formed by Podemos and IU.

Despite the voluminous loss of regional and municipal power for which a broad sector of the PSOE blames the vote in a national key, all together in the party chose to close ranks as soon as Sánchez announced the call for the general elections. Even in the federations most critical of the president and his policy of pacts they advocated putting accountability on hold until after 23-J.

Tensions over the lists

However, the usual tensions in drawing up the electoral lists on this occasion have ended up stirring up the waters that had momentarily stagnated.. Apart from the inclusion of 14 of the 17 ministers and several senior officials from La Moncloa in starting positions, Ferraz's interference in the candidacies proposed by four regions ended up tarnishing the celebration of the Federal Committee on June 10 with which they wanted to project an image of unity before the new exam at the polls.

The secretary of the Socialists of Castilla y León, Luis Tudanca, was the only critical voice that rose at that meeting to express his “outrage” at the imposition of numbers one on the Senate for Valladolid and on the Congress for Ávila. Upon arrival at the conclave of his party, the still acting president of the Valencian Community, Ximo Puig, also admitted that the changes that had been made in Madrid had made him “very bad”, although inside he chose to make a constructive speech.

Those who were absent from the Federal Committee – in which, despite criticism, the lists were unanimously approved – were the leaders of Aragon, Javier Lambán, who had expressed “deep disagreement” with the corrections imposed by the national leadership after he had agreed to place the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, heading the Zaragoza ballot against his will, and García-Page. In her case, she had managed to prevent her right-hand man from being ousted from Toledo's candidacy, but not from placing the outgoing mayor, Milagros Tolón, who was close to Sánchez, in second position.

Many eyes turned towards the Castilian-Manchego baron after the 28-M scrutiny that certified the territorial collapse of the PSOE at the polls while he, not without shocks, managed to revalidate his absolute majority. In an interview in EL MUNDO a week later, he pointed out that it was early to talk about the replacement of the president, without ruling out: “There is time to do the analyzes that come later. I always wish a party has many people who want to be boss. The worst thing is that nobody wants to”.