The vice president of the Government, Minister of Finance and number two of the federal PSOE, María Jesús Montero, has called this Wednesday to the militants of Seville to announce her pre-candidacy for the primaries to elect the leader of the Andalusian socialists, barely 24 hours after Juan Espadas announced that he was renouncing re-election to “support a winning option.”
Montero remained silent throughout the day on Tuesday, leaving all the media focus to the current general secretary of the party’s largest federation, who explained at the headquarters his reasons for abandoning the re-election race. The march of Swords and the landing of the vice president of the Government are, according to his story, synchronized movements, agreed at the highest level and with the knowledge and approval of Pedro Sánchez.
The minister plans to attend this Wednesday in Madrid the Government’s commemoration ceremony for the 40th anniversary of the death of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco, where she will also coincide with Espadas, spokesperson for the PSOE in the Senate. Then he will take an AVE to Seville to make official the presentation of his candidacy before the militancy of his own group, the largest in the country and, at the time, the heart of the Andalusian PSOE.
“Only one option could make me rethink my decision to run, and if that option arose, here is Juan Espadas. I choose to join forces with a winning candidacy, without a doubt, because I am focused on beating Juan Manuel Moreno’s PP. I decide to support a winning option that renews the project and makes it a winner and to do so I am going to take a step to the side, never back,” Espadas said this afternoon at the party headquarters, on San Vicente Street in Seville, packed with journalists. , and surrounded by his executive’s closest collaborators.
The still leader of the Andalusian federation has not mentioned Montero’s name, although those around him have explained that the “transition” operation towards the project of the vice president of the Government was “agreed” with her and with Sánchez. Montero’s candidacy tries to appease an Andalusian PSOE that was headed straight for a train wreck in a very tough primary at the most delicate moment in its recent history.
It is an option that pleases both the outgoing leadership, with Espadas at the head, and the disengaged critical sector, which during Christmas has tried to launch, without success, the alternative candidacy of the Jaen representative Juan Francisco Serrano, number two of the secretary of Organization, Santos Cerdán.
With Montero, there are five ministers of Pedro Sánchez who jump to the regional arena to renew the leadership of the PSOE in the regions where the PP now governs, taking advantage of the fact that in 2025 there is – at the moment – no electoral call. The Minister of Finance will be the first – along with the socialist candidate chosen by Castilla y León – to face the popular ones at the polls.
His job is complicated, because he will face Juan Manuel Moreno, who enjoys a comfortable absolute majority and barely a scratch on the opposition’s suit after six years in power. In principle, Montero proposes making his functions in the central Executive compatible with the leadership of the largest federation of the PSOE, which includes the difficult negotiation of the unique financing for Catalonia – with its Catalan independence partners -, the reform of the financing model for all of Spain, with 11 regional presidents of the PP against it; and the General Budgets for 2025.
Montero had until Friday at two in the afternoon to register his pre-candidacy for the Andalusian PSOE primaries, for which he had to appear at the party headquarters or send a trusted person on his behalf. There is already one candidate who has taken that step, the professor of Economics and socialist activist Luis Ángel Hierro, who ran in the 2021 primaries that Espadas won against the then party leader and former president of the Board, Susana Díaz.
The next step will be the collection of endorsements from the militancy, for which a period will open between January 11 and 18. The statutes of the PSOE, modified in the last federal Congress, establish that 12% of the census is necessary – instead of 6% as until now -, which implies gathering around 4,500 signatures of members.
Montero will have no problems achieving this, because he has the sympathy of both those who supported Espadas and his critics, but Hierro may have a more difficult time. In 2021 he achieved about 1,400 endorsements – then this figure was enough, which allowed him to make the cut and compete in the primaries – but now the bar is higher.
If she does not succeed and Montero is finally the only candidate standing, the primaries will not be held and the vice president of the Government will automatically be elected general secretary of the Andalusian PSOE. The formation of its executive will be resolved at the 15th regional Congress of the party, convened on February 22 and 23 in Armilla (Granada).
#Wednesday #Montero #launches #candidacy #lead #PSOE #Andalusia #resignation #Espadas
