The plan designed by Pedro Sánchez last summer to revalidate his leadership in the PSOE and align the federations in order to minimize internal noise may not go entirely well. The victory on Saturday of Miguel Ángel Gallardo in the Extremaduran PSOE primaries represents a defeat for Ferraz, who had withdrawn his support considering, as the Government stated this week to ABC, that “his leadership has not completely gelled.” However, the alternative candidate, the former regional councilor Esther Gutiérrez – who always denied being Ferraz’s person – failed to prevail, although she represents an important counterpower in a federation that has been greatly divided by the struggles between Cáceres and Badajoz. In the process of holding regional congresses, fear is growing in Ferraz that an organic critical sector could form that joins the main discordant voice, that of the president of Castilla-La Mancha. Meanwhile, Emiliano García-Page is preparing his regional congress, which will be held next weekend and is planned as a military parade, observing what happens in the rest of the federations. Attention in Ferraz is now focused on Aragon, the only territory still in the running that they do not consider controlled and in which Pilar Alegría, Minister of Education and Government spokesperson, is also competing. A defeat would take on greater meaning. In the hypothesis that they handled in the Government and in the federal headquarters of the party after the celebration of the congress in which Pedro Sánchez was re-elected as general secretary, on November 30 and December 1 in Seville, only five problematic territories were contemplated, apart from Castilla-La Mancha. The first was Madrid, but the abrupt resignation of Juan Lobato after ABC published that he went to the notary to cover himself from the progress of the investigation into the State Attorney General for revealing secrets has left the way clear for Óscar López, Minister of Digital Transformation. The second and third were Castilla y León and Andalusia, and Ferraz went to work to displace the two regional leaders, both with the intention of continuing: Luis Tudanca and Juan Espadas. A month later, both have taken a step back forced by the federal leadership and have made way for the official candidates: the mayor of Soria, Carlos Martínez, for Castilla y León; and the first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, for Andalusia. With these three previous processes resolved satisfactorily for Ferraz, the only unknown that remains is Aragón, a relevant federation in which Sánchez cannot break the spirit of Javier Lambán . In Ferraz they admit that the primaries will be close, although they trust that Minister Alegría will prevail over Lambán’s candidate, Darío Villagrasa, who is the Secretary of Regional Organization. “There will be competition, the result will not be 80-20,” they admit in Ferraz, “but the normal thing is that Alegría wins.” According to his calculations, Sánchez’s spokesperson in La Moncloa has Huesca under control, but Zaragoza and Teruel are very divided, so he will have left. “The normal thing is that Alegría wins, because the weight of a minister is very important,” they insist on the Executive. False closure or closing of ranks The rest of the baronies are quite aligned with Pedro Sánchez and there has been no serious discussion about the leadership. Primaries will be held in Cantabria, but neither of the two candidates presents themselves as critical of Sánchez. In Ferraz, there is no concern whether this federation will continue with Pablo Zuloaga, former regional vice president, at the helm, or whether deputy Pedro Casares will be the new general secretary in the region. But all that glitters is not gold. Undoubtedly, with this entire process of renewal of regional leadership, Ferraz is managing to stop the internal noise, and a general balance shows success in the short term. But in the same way that affirming that the federal leadership of the PSOE has achieved the “closing of ranks” that it sought is going too far, interpreting it as a “false closure” is excessive. Critics admit it: “Internal terms it may seem that there is an alignment of directorates and general secretaries with the position of the general secretary,” they point out. «But these types of processes have some contraindications, like some medications: in the end you don’t know what the federations think. The fact that Tudanca or Espadas have taken a step back, pushed by Ferraz, does not mean that 100% of those regions fully agree with the secretary general in relation to matters that have a lot to do with territorial policy, something essential to carve out “good electoral expectations.” That is to say, that Montero is the leader in Andalusia does not mean that the unique financing of Catalonia will be better seen by Andalusians, or more specifically by socialist militants. Not even for the citizens. “Apparently these types of processes imply a closing of ranks, but in the medium and long term you do not know what consequences they have: you do not know the level of support and rejection of the party’s positions, and you do not know if this is going to serve to relaunch the game in those places where results need to be improved. It leaves open questions both from an internal and social point of view, because they are processes that do not have social credibility, I no longer say organic, because they are not natural, credible and serious candidates. The plan designed in Ferraz pursues two objectives and has a victim: the first objective is to rearm the party under the iron control of Ferraz so that it functions without dissenting voices that could become entangled in criticism of the policies that the President of the Government implements from La Moncloa, especially those that have repercussion in a regional key: regional financing, transfers to the independentists, etc. The second and main thing is to start working for the regional elections scheduled for May 2027, an appointment that in Sánchez’s medium-term strategy is presented as essential and that in turn is addressed as an opportunity, given that at this time The PSOE has the least territorial power in recent decades. Regional growth as a way to remain in La Moncloa. SuperSunday Having just started 2025, it is too early to reveal when the general elections will be held, which at the latest should be held in the summer of 2027. However, it is time to start handling hypotheses. The possibility of making the general elections coincide with the Andalusian elections, which are the first to be called, has been around for some time. The previous ones were held in June 2022, so they should be held in the summer of the 26th. However, at this time the hypothesis of slightly advancing the general elections to call them together with the regional and municipal elections of May 2027 has more weight: a Super Sunday that this week has been launched to the public by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and that fits with the message that Pedro Sánchez says over and over again that the elections will be in on the 27th. In party terms, the victim of this entire strategy is the very concept of primaries that Sánchez defended so much in the beginning and that allowed him to return to be general secretary of the PSOE after he was expelled on October 1, 2016 by yours. This strategy is the great triumph of the apparatus over the leaders, and for this Sánchez makes use of a novel element: militancy. The same one that boosted him against Susana Díaz and that pampered himself at the last federal congress in Seville. “When an autonomous leader makes him uncomfortable, Sánchez warns him to bring the militancy on them,” explains a critical leader. «Militants are by definition much more radical than middle cadres, who tend to be more moderate. Sánchez has known how to play that trick, although it is obviously the party that suffers,” he adds. The landing of ministers in the regional baronies is significant: Montero in Andalusia, López in Madrid, Diana Morant in the Valencian Community, Víctor Ángel Torres in the Canary Islands and the unknown of Alegría. The plan is absolute identification between La Moncloa and Ferraz, between the Government and the Socialist Party. It is the path chosen by Sánchez to fight in the next electoral cycle.h The faces of the battleEmiliano García-Page President Castilla-La Mancha 1He is the little cricket of Sanchismo and has regional power. Nobody coughs at him in Castilla-La Mancha and he represents another PSOE.Darío Villagrasa PSOE Candidate Aragón 2The man from Lambán in the dispute with Pilar Alegría. Young and prepared, he will fight the minister. In Ferraz they are attentive.Óscar López PSM Candidate 3Sanchez’s last minister, who was a candidate to preside over the Junta de Castilla y León, guarantees loyalty to Díaz Ayuso.María Jesús Montero Candidate PSOE Andalusia 4She didn’t want to, but Sánchez understood that she needed someone of his maximum confidence in Andalusia, the main federation of the PSOE. Carlos Martínez Candidate PSOE Castilla y León 5The mayor of Soria takes on the challenge of competing with Mañueco, who has Budgets and can advance the elections whenever he wants.
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