Hunting for the municipal vote: the Galician PSOE seeks the formula so that support for its mayors boosts Besteiro

The PSOE exhibits an important municipal muscle in Galicia, with Vigo as a paradigmatic example, but those results in local elections are not replicated in regional elections. In 2023, both in the general elections and in the municipal elections, the Galician socialists garnered 30% of the support, a percentage that in the regional elections of 2020 remained at 20%, and in the elections of 2016, at 18%. José Ramón Gómez Besteiro's team is now fighting to retain that voter so that his ballot does not change. “If we manage to mobilize these citizens so that half of the vote is endorsed in the regional elections, obviously there will be a progressive Government in Galicia,” says Alberto Varela, mayor of Vilagarcía de Arousa (Pontevedra), municipal policy secretary of the Galician PSOE and president of the Galician Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Fegamp).

Galicia has only had two socialist presidents. In 2005, the PSdeG-PSOE managed to form a left-wing government with the BNG—a situation that had only occurred before between 1987 and 1990 with the socialist Fernando González Laxe at the head of a tripartite party and after a motion of censure. Manuel Fraga was one seat short of the absolute majority and took over from Emilio Pérez Touriño. But since Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP returned to the Xunta in 2009, the Galician socialists have not raised their heads in the regional elections. Now they are convinced that they will govern the community again. “We believe that this is the moment and the greatest opportunity to change the political cycle, in the face of a PP that does not give more of itself and with the leadership of Besteiro, who has attracted the greatest acclaim and consensus in the party,” Varela proclaims.

The PSOE holds a hundred mayorships in the 313 Galician town councils, including those of three of the seven largest cities (Vigo, A Coruña and Lugo). In the municipal elections of May 2023, 167,000 more citizens voted for the party in Galicia than in the regional elections of 2020. In the general elections of 23-J, the difference grew: 226,000 more ballots. “We must open the campaign to capture that dual vote in large and medium-sized cities. We see that the scenario is favorable and we are prepared to promote this mobilization,” says Varela, who has never perceived in the Galician citizen “as much fatigue as now, because they are aware that they are no longer interested in talking about the problems here and that they are “It puts the focus on whether Spain breaks up or not.” And he insists: “There will be an electoral reversal if we convince our local voters not to change parties in the regional elections.”

José Rúas is a professor of Political Communication at the University of Vigo and former PSOE councilor in Ourense. In his opinion, the result of 18-F will be conditioned by the context, leadership and the time available to strengthen a candidate. He believes that the PP has tried to reverse Feijóo's departure and the “express appointment of Rueda” by announcing an electoral advance “a few days after Besteiro's presentation as a candidate.” “Besteiro is demonstrating very good leadership capacity, but he barely had time since his return to public life,” he points out.

The professor and former socialist councilor explains that a part of the electorate not only “votes differently in each electoral process”, but even supports “the same candidate in a different way, depending on the moment.” It underlines “the traditional Galician duality of the vote between rural areas and the city”, with more progressive weight in urban environments, and the fact that the difference in the result obtained in municipal and regional elections is “very pronounced and different in the left, whose electorate is less faithful, more critical and punishing.”

The case of Vigo

Vigo, the most populated city, is the paradigm of the problem that the socialists have in attracting their municipal voters in the regional elections. In the local elections last May, 82,000 people from Vigo—60% of the citizens who went to the polls—chose the fist and rose ballot. In the June general elections, the socialists continued to be the leading force, although they dropped to 63,000 votes (37%). However, in the last regional elections, the PP surpassed them and support remained at 43,000 votes, barely 30% of the total.

The national deputy and provincial secretary of the socialists in Pontevedra, David Regades Fernández, emphasizes that the results of the PSOE in Pontevedra and Vigo are always above the Galicia average. He admits that the vote in the largest city in Galicia will be decisive but adds that expectations are “unbeatable” with Besteiro.

Regades is convinced that “the comeback is underway” and believes that Besteiro's message of “collaboration with the central government” will help him: “Citizens reject constant fighting. They prefer harmony between governments that attracts investments and opportunities.”

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