The mayor of Archena resigns to present herself and leaves the president of the Community as the only candidate in the conclave on July 15
Fernando López Miras guaranteed his reelection this Wednesday as president of the Popular Party in the Region of Murcia and, barring unforeseen events, as the PP candidate for the presidency of the Autonomous Community in the regional elections of 2023, in search of his third term.
After months of internal noise, López Miras will finally be the only candidate in the extraordinary congress that the popular Murcians will celebrate next July 15 in the capital of the Region. The mayor of Archena, Patricia Fernández, who had been threatening for some time, decided not to raise a battle, thus heeding the calls for unity launched from the national leadership of Genoa and after ensuring her inclusion in the next Executive. Nor did Manuel Durán, former councilor and former director general, formalize the candidacy, who on Friday of last week had communicated his intention to present himself to the conclave and even yesterday summoned the media to the regional headquarters on González Adalid street, to deliver of the 90 endorsements that were required of him in order to aspire to the presidency.
At 7:00 p.m. this Wednesday, the deadline for submitting the endorsements closed, and López Miras handed the president of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, Joaquín Segado, six boxes that contained a total of 5,300 signatures from members of the entire Region, 1,196 more of those obtained by Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the last national congress (4,104). Then it was said that Feijóo had obtained the endorsement of 70% of the militancy, with which the percentage harvested by Miras would be close to 90%.
In addition, the head of the regional Executive obtained the signature of almost all the municipal officials of the PP, with the exception of Archena, where the party is chaired by Patricia Fernández, as well as most of the institutional positions, which in recent days have filled the social networks of photographs in which they are seen signing in favor of the regional leader.
Although there is only one candidate, the militants of the PP in the Region are called to the polls next Monday, July 4. They will be able to support the candidacy of López Miras, introduce a blank ballot or vote null. That day will also elect the 800 elected delegates who will participate in the conclave, who will have to endorse the lists that Miras presents to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.
Patricia Fernández and López Miras, in a file image. /
The six o’clock tweet
Doubts about whether or not López Miras would have jurisdiction in this internal process dissipated around six in the afternoon, an hour before the deadline for the delivery of guarantees closed. The mayor of Archena, Patricia Fernández, communicated through Twitter that she would not appear at the congress. «From now on, and as always, I am going to work for greater unity within the PP, together with Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Fernando López Miras, in a project of integration and unity for the Region of Murcia, and so that Núñez Feijóo becomes the leader that Spain and the Spaniards need».
«It is very likely that Patricia will be on the Executive Committee»
Fernando López Miras stressed that, in the presentation of guarantees, he was accompanied by “practically all the local presidents and mayors of the PP”, as well as “a good part of the pedáneos de Murcia”, which in his opinion shows “that this is a project of unity, of integration and that represents everyone». About the mayor of Archena, he reiterated that she “is a fundamental value for the PP of the Region”, emphasizing that she “does not need lace because she has always belonged to this project.” In addition, although he indicated that to finalize the candidacy for the Executive Committee he still has to talk to the mayors and local presidents, he confirmed that “it is very likely” that Patricia Fernández will be in the future direction. “I have presented a candidacy of integration and unity of the entire Region and I have already spoken with many local presidents and mayors, with the mayor of Archena as well, to whom I have told them that everyone has a place and we are going to make a candidacy of unity in which the 45 municipalities feel represented”.
Sources consulted by LA VERDAD confirm that, on Wednesday, Fernando López Miras and Patricia Fernández met in person in order to end the tensions of recent months and in search of an agreement in favor of the unity of the regional PP, for the that last week the Deputy Secretary of Organization of the national PP, the Galician Miguel Tellado, advocated in Murcia, a man of the total confidence of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
The dialogue came to fruition, judging by the tweet published by the mayor of Archena, refusing to appear. Miras and Fernández did not publicly confirm the agreement or its content, although its existence has not been denied either.
From the president’s environment, it is ensured that she was invited to join the majority of the party, since all the local presidents, except her, and almost all of the militancy had endorsed the regional chief executive. Miras himself admitted that it is very likely that the mayor of Archena will have responsibilities in the future Executive. She was already deputy secretary of Communication and rejected another position in the remodeling that was carried out after the motion of censure.
Other sources, closer to Patricia Fernández, slipped that the pact includes integration lists both for the Regional Executive Committee and for the candidacies for the municipal and regional elections of 2023. And it would not only be limited to the archenera councillor, but to many of his supporters.
Durán: “What I’m not going to do is face everyone”
The announcement that Patricia Fernández was definitely giving up competing with Fernando López Miras for the presidency of the Popular Party of the Region surprised Manuel Durán minutes before 6:30 p.m., the time he planned to formalize his candidacy at the regional headquarters of the popular in Murcia .
“Since there is an integration of the two sectors and sensitivities of the party, my candidacy no longer makes sense, because what I am not going to do is confront the entire party.” The former general director of Emergencies, as well as a councilor in the Murcia City Council, assures that he had about 160 guarantees, fifty more than those required by the statutes to formalize a candidacy, but he refused to deliver them to the president of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, Joaquín Mowed down, for understanding that he no longer had a reason to exist. “It was what I wanted, the unity and integration of the entire organization,” he told LA VERDAD.
Thus, the aspirations of the former senior position of the regional government, who left the regional administration in September 2019 and went to the private company, has lasted less than a week.
In the statement in which he announced his intention to present a candidacy to the conclave, he stated that the Popular Party of the Region needed “the permanent updating of the project and the renewal of those teams that fail to arouse the illusion and the change that citizens demand” .
Yesterday, in an interview on Cadena SER, he indicated that he had previously spoken with the mayor of Archena to inform her that he was launching his candidacy. “Either you take the step or I’ll take it.” In the end, neither of them.
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