Three weeks. That is the time that the parties have had to configure their lists for the general elections since Pedro Sánchez announced his decision to advance the elections to July 23. The term has closed this Monday and, during this record time, the formations have prepared their candidacies for Congress and the Senate combining electoral expectations, signings of other parties, the protection of the nuclei of confidence of the leaders and vetoes to specific figures.
The negotiations within the Sumar platform of Yolanda Díaz have been the loudest and have been marked by the exclusion of the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, from the lists. Meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez has chosen to place senior Moncloa officials on the socialist lists given the prospect of defeat. Meanwhile, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has chosen Marta Rivera de la Cruz, formerly of Ciudadanos and former advisor to the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso as his number two for Madrid, while Nacho Martín Blanco, another former member of Inés Arrimadas's party, will occupy the position departure in Barcelona. Vox has parked the surprises to repeat with the majority of its hard core in Congress.
PSOE lists
The main obstacle that the Socialists have encountered to fit all the pieces in their lists has been the prospect of a diminishing result on 23-J. The polls suggest that the PSOE will have around 100 deputies, below the 120 it currently has, and that it will not be able to re-edit the coalition government. This not only means that the starting positions that could secure a seat are fewer, but also that those figures who could be left without positions in the Executive have to find a place.
Following this premise, the President of the Government has placed the current Government delegate in Galicia, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, as head of the list for Lugo; the deputy director of the Cabinet of the Presidency, Antonio Hernando, leading the candidacy of Almería, and the general director of the Civil Guard and general secretary of the party in the capital, Mercedes González, on the Madrid list. All of them have had to resign before their candidacies were registered due to incompatibility.
As number two, he has selected the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, after Nadia Calviño has decided not to compete on the lists, despite having a strong role in the socialist campaign, by establishing herself as the great economic figure of Pedro Sánchez. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, will be number four, with a system of zipper lists, which leads the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to occupy third place and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to fifth, followed by the vice president of the Senate, Cristina Narbona, and by Sánchez's chief of staff in Moncloa, Óscar López, in positions six and seven, respectively.
It has also been necessary to give space to those defeated in the regional and municipal elections on May 28, such as the still acting president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, or the former mayor of Valladolid Óscar Puente. These impositions have led to some clash. This is the case of Javier Lambán, who has had to see how the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, has been imposed as head of the list for Zaragoza against her criteria, in addition to the entire list of Teruel.
Ferraz also imposed last-minute modifications to the lists that arrived from Castilla y León and the Valencian Community. In this last territory, the management rectified the changes that the leadership of Ximo Puig had made in the constituencies led by Carlos Fernández Bielsa in Valencia and Alejandro Soler in Alicante. Among them, Alfred Boix, one of the closest collaborators of Morella in the Presidency of the Generalitat, regional secretary for Institutional Promotion, Communication and Foresight, and former secretary of Organization of the PSPV.
PP lists
The formation of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, clear favorite to win the 23-J, has chosen to reveal all his candidacies days before the deadline to register the lists with the Central Electoral Board. In this composition, the Galician politician has decided that his dome occupy the starting positions of numerous provinces, while in Madrid he has surprised by choosing as number two Marta Rivera de la Cruz, former Citizens and Ayuso's Minister of Culture during the last legislature, accompanied by other faithful of the Madrid leader. This is the case of the former president of the Assembly of Madrid, Eugenia Carballedo, and of the previous popular speaker in the Chamber of Vallecas, Pedro Muñoz Abrines. Iran four and eight, respectively. Borja Sémper will be number three and Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo will occupy the sixth position.
Around Feijóo, Cuca Gamarra leads the candidacy of Logroño; Elías Bendodo, from Malaga; Esteban González Pons, from Valencia; Juan Bravo, from Seville, and Miguel Tellado, from A Coruña. The leader of the PP has changed 75% of the names that occupy starting positions, renewing 39 of the 52 heads of the list.
From other parties, it has also incorporated Pere Lluís Huget, former spokesperson for Ciudadanos in the Salou City Council, to lead the list for Tarragona; while he has opted for Sergio Sayas, former UPN deputy, to lead the ballot in Navarra, where the PP has not been able to close an agreement with the regionalist formation to compete in alliance.
To focus on the economic sphere, Feijóo has placed several members of the team of the PP Deputy Secretary of Economy, Juan Bravo, as heads of the provincial list. This is the case of Luis Alberto Marín, Minister of Economy in the Region of Murcia, who is running as number one in this territory, or José Vicente Marí, current Secretary of Industry, Tourism and Commerce in Genoa, and who passes from the Senate to Congress as top of the list of the Balearic Islands.
Vox Lists
Santiago Abascal has not given any big surprises and has opted for his hard core in Congress, although he has opted for a change of number two in Madrid. While the one chosen for the position in 2019 was Javier Ortega Smith, who falls to number four, this position will now be held by María de la Cabeza Ruiz Solás, who was already a deputy in the previous legislature and is a councilor in Villaviciosa de Odón. Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, economic spokesman in Congress, will repeat in the three.
In addition to Ortega Smith, another current councilor in the Madrid City Council, Carla Toscano, will occupy a place on the lists of the formation, which suggests that the capital is taking a backseat for Vox given its loss of influence after the absolute majority of Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. Rocio Monasterio, spokesperson for the party in the Assembly, has not had any position and faces an uncertain future.
The Vox leader has included other like-minded people such as David García, head of the list for Alicante and a member of the affiliated union Solidaridad; Ignacio Hoces, institutional vice-secretary and who is now running as number one for Badajoz, or Jorge Martín Frías for Madrid, very close to Abascal and director of the Disenso Foundation, the think tank of the ultra-conservative party. He has also opted for other faithful such as Rocío de Meer in Almería, José María Figaredo in Asturias and Manuel Mariscal in Toledo.
In Malaga, Patricia Rueda repeats as head of the list. In Murcia, Lourdes Méndez Monasterio —sister of Santiago Abascal's main adviser, Kiko Méndez Monasterio— attends, and in Las Palmas Andrés Alberto Rodríguez does the same. A curious case is that of Granada, whose list is led by the former spokesperson in the Senate, Jacobo González-Robatto, who left the Upper House to coordinate Macarena Olona's campaign in Andalusia..
Vox is also using the lists as an outlet for its regional leaders with the aim of unblocking negotiations with the PP and forming autonomous governments.. This is the case of Carlos Flores Juberías, whose departure was demanded by Carlos Mazón in the Valencian Community to incorporate those of Santiago Abascal into the regional Executive. Flores, convicted of mistreatment, will be number one for Valencia. In the same way, Jorge Campos will lead the candidacy in the Balearic Islands, instead of taking possession of his minutes in the Balearic Parliament, which could facilitate conversations with Marga Prohens.
The most notable absence is that of deputy Víctor Manuel Sánchez del Real in Badajoz, present in the party's activities from the beginning. His disappearance from the lists, together with that of Rubén Manso, feeds the theory that the liberal current has lost weight in the structure compared to the more conservative and nationalist sector..
The line to follow is continuity in general terms. In Barcelona, repeat Juan José Aizcorbe, and in Viscay, Nerea Alzola, who coincided with Abascal in the Basque PP. The provinces of this territory are completed by Andrés Paramio (Guipúzcoa) and María Teresa Jiménez (Álava). In Zaragoza, Pedro Fernández aspires to repeat, who was in charge of the accusation of the process together with Javier Ortega Smith and served as a councilor in Madrid for the last four years. Until now Senator Francisco José Alcaraz, a victim of ETA and president of the Voices Against Terrorism association, will lead the ballot in Jaén.
Add Lists
Yolanda Díaz's intention was not to wait until the last minute to conclude the negotiations that articulated the confluence of 15 parties around Sumar, but she finally hurried up just over three hours before the registry closed.. With the lists, again, the process has been agonizing. In trying to make them official on Friday, the Sumar leadership gave the order to do so on Saturday, but in a good part of the provinces they have had to wait until Monday afternoon to close this process..
The starting positions were known —Podemos has eight—, as well as the order of the first positions in Madrid. Díaz places the diplomat Agustín Santos Maraver as number two, the Sahrawi activist Tesh Sidi as three (Más Madrid) and Íñigo Errejón just before the purple secretary general, Ione Belarra, in fifth place. The sixth is for his economic guru, Carlos Martín, who will share the limelight with Nacho Álvarez, economic manager of the purple ones, during the campaign. Álvarez will not go on the lists.
Eighth place goes to Isa Serra, leader of the hard core of Podemos and very close to the banned Irene Montero. Like Montero, prominent purple leaders such as Pablo Echenique, Ángela Rodríguez Pam or Rafa Mayoral do not appear on the lists, and Díaz has dispensed with figures such as Antón Gómez Reino and Jaume Asens, who bet everything on the letter of the vice president. It has also placed in Guipúzcoa the former purple secretary general and today a close collaborator of Díaz, Lander Martínez, who is not liked in Podemos, and has forced the Navarrese leadership to assume the presence of MEP Idoia Villanueva, from the executive of Podemos.
Txema Guijarro, a fundamental figure in the parliamentary group, has managed to head the list for Alicante despite reluctance, in lists whose final configuration, this Monday, has not brought any great surprises. The battle took place in the previous days, the presences and absences had already had their impact.