The veto that Genoa has placed on the Vox candidate in the Valencian Community, sentenced 11 years ago for psychological abuse of his ex-wife, has further tensed, if possible, the first official meeting that will sit Carlos Mazón and the leader at the same table pointed out by the leadership of the PP, Carlos Flores Juberías. Vox does not give in to pressure and will go to the negotiation with a list of requests that, in his opinion, reflects the result of the polls. The most urgent thing is the search for an agreement for the distribution of the posts of the Board of the Valencian Parliament, which must be compulsorily constituted on June 26. In Abascal's team, they advance that their intention is to replicate the model of Castilla y León, and they will ask the popular delegation for the presidency of Les Corts.

Sources from the Vox leadership, which coordinates the negotiations of its territorial candidates, stress that the party's intention is to go to the negotiating table “without red lines” and willing to “give in” on some issues to close a coalition agreement in a key square for the PP and for Feijóo. But they consider it “logical” to demand the same seats as in Castilla y León. The PP needs 10 Vox votes to sign an absolute majority, the same number that Alfonso Fernández Mañueco lacked in 2022. That negotiation was not only saved by ceding the presidency of the Cortes to the ultra-conservatives, but also a vice-presidency for Juan García-Gallardo and three other councils for his team. And that will be the roadmap in the Valencian Community. Vox does not conceive of finalizing the negotiation without having wrested Mazón's entry into the Council.

The pre-agreement for the constitution of Les Corts is the first major litmus test. If the PP does not give in to the conditions of its Vox counterparts or if they do not soften their conditions, PSOE and Compromís can wrest the presidency of Parliament from the right-wing bloc. And the intention of the party located to the right of the PP to take control of the Chamber does not seem minor. In recent days, Vox has consulted the legal services of Les Corts about the mechanism for the election of the presidency and the table itself, with the aim of consolidating their requests before the PP.

The next step will be the negotiations for the investiture of Carlos Mazón. For the moment, the popular Valencians have avoided supporting the “red line” that Genoa has raised against the Vox candidate for his mistreatment conviction. “The PP has not vetoed anyone,” said the regional coordinator and number three of Mazón, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, on Monday. But if the directive of the Feijóo team prevails, the result of the negotiation is completely uncertain. At the top of Vox, they avoid answering the question of whether or not they would be willing to sacrifice their candidate to save a coalition agreement with the PP in the Valencian Community. “Our red line is not the people”, summarize the sources consulted, who opt for an ambiguous position to avoid clouding the conversations with the PP before starting.

Of course, in the Santiago Abascal party they warn that they would be willing to force an electoral repetition if the PP goes to the negotiation with a position of maximum. “If they do not respect Vox voters, if there is no reasonable agreement, we will go to electoral repetition,” they warn. At the top of the party, they demand “fair” treatment from the popular, which implies a distribution of portfolios equivalent to the electoral result, regardless of what happens to their candidate. Vox warns that, regardless of how the future popular Executive looks, they will not compromise with the red lines of their program either. “If we are not guaranteed a government in which the freedom of parents to choose the education of their children prevails, we will break bridges”, they exemplify.

The investiture negotiation is a bomb that the PP does not want to detonate yet. For Genoa and for Mazón, the maxim is to delay possible government agreements with Vox so that they do not contaminate the general election campaign. The margin is limited, but possible. Before July 21, Carlos Mazón must face a first investiture debate, but the PP can force an unsuccessful first vote, which would be repeated 48 hours later, this time with the requirement of a simple majority. If the numbers still do not come out, the popular candidate would have two months to repeat this process before waving the ghost of an electoral repetition.

The PP will not veto coalitions with Vox in the territories

Beyond the Valencian exception and the express veto to form a government with Carlos Flores Juberías, the national leadership of the PP will give the green light to the coalition agreements signed by its territorial candidates, and will not put up obstacles, especially in those cases in which a alliance with Vox serves to prevent the entry of the PSOE in municipal executives. Feijóo gave “absolute autonomy” to PP barons and mayors to decide the relationship they wanted to have with the ultra-conservative party after 28-M, partly to avoid taking responsibility for the result of negotiations in which Vox seeks to multiply the Castilla model and Leon and assume shares of power. However, as the national leader acknowledged a few days ago in an interview on Onda Cero, it is Genoa that must give the final approval to the territorial agreements.

“We are trying to govern alone by all possible means”, they reiterate in Feijóo's team, where they emphasize that the party's maxim, both in the national and territorial sphere, is to try agreements with those of Abascal “without ties” and without give up quotas of power. But they emphasize that, if there is no other way, Genoa “will not veto coalition agreements with Vox”. Time is pressing especially at the municipal level, with several provincial capitals in contention, whose executives must close before June 17. The trickle of government agreements between PP and Vox in dozens of municipalities and large cities such as Elche will have the approval of Genoa. The campaign spokesman, Borja Sémper, confirmed in public this Monday that the national leadership “absolutely” trusts the criteria of its candidates.

This circumstance paves the way for similar alliances in large squares where PP and Vox have it in their hands to seize the command baton from the PSOE, which won the elections in Guadalajara, Toledo, Valladolid, Alcalá de Henares or Burgos. In all of them, the two forces located on the right are finalizing these days the details of an agreement that could facilitate Vox access to government areas. In Genoa, they influence the free hands of their municipal candidates to close the pacts they consider appropriate, with which they consider Feijóo's proposal that the most voted list govern, due to lack of reciprocity..

The cordon that the national leadership of the party raised to agree with those of Abascal —since Genoa 13, it was asserted that Feijóo does not want to “agree with ultras”— aroused misgivings in the territories. “No one can be asked to resign from governing if they add up to Vox,” popular sources insisted, who did not share that the popular leader returned again and again to his proposal on the most voted list, which could put executives like executives in trouble. the one of Extremadura. In fact, the popular candidate in this region, María Guardiola, evaded the guidelines of the national leadership and warned that she would go to elections rather than let Guillermo Fernández Vara govern.

Although the maxim is still to exhaust every last chance to govern alone, the evolution of the territorial negotiations has led Genoa to loosen the rope and not ask its leaders to let the left govern if there is a sum with Vox. However, in the case of the municipalities where the PP has won the elections —such as Valencia, Alicante or Seville—, the strategy involves convincing the ultra-conservatives to support their investitures for free and, if this is not possible, try minority governments.