Pedro Sánchez will once again disperse the bulk of his ministers in the PSOE candidacies for the July 23 elections, which the party’s federal committee will approve this Saturday without any big surprises or flashy signings. After the vice president Nadia Calviño made it clear that, despite being willing to continue in office, and as she did in 2019, she prefers not to run, it will be the third vice president and minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, who accompany the President of the Government as number two for Madrid, the place held four years ago by the then First Vice President Carmen Calvo. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles will be four, presumably behind the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños.
In reality, the Socialists still have the process of elaboration of candidacies open. Once the groups finished voting on their proposals on Tuesday, on Wednesday it was the provincial committees who did the same. This Thursday the lists will pass the filter of the regional committees and on Friday the commission of lists will meet, which will be the one who will raise the final proposal on Saturday to the federal committee. But Ferraz has the last word in practice and, in addition, he has tried to get his intentions to the territories in advance.
Sánchez is committed to recognizable faces for the citizen and that, in some way, can be identified with his management, but also by people he trusts. After having made it clear to the leadership of the party that it would make room for those presidents and mayors who were beaten on 28-M and who wished to do so -such as the one from Valladolid, Óscar Puente, or the acting president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol- tries to save a parliamentary group to your liking, which may end up inheriting another secretary general.
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The preparation of the lists is always complex and problematic, even more so when, as on this occasion, there are many applicants and expectations point to a reduction in the number of deputies compared to the result achieved four years ago. In some cases, the above demands are accepted with relative goodwill. In others, not so much. But now, the uncertainty of the scenario that can open after the generals seems to have played in favor of the chief executive. “There are those who want to stand up to him but let’s see who risks being left hanging by the brush if it turns out that, despite the scare of the regional and municipal authorities, he does manage to govern,” says a leader.
Lambán rectifies
The acting president of Aragón, Javier Lambán, was openly reluctant until this Wednesday, for example, to place the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, as number one of the PSOE candidacy in Zaragoza, although he has finally given his arm to twist. But her case has been the most extreme. In Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page does not object, according to his team, to the fact that the spokesperson for the Executive, Isabel Rodríguez, is number one for Ciudad Real. Nor is Ximo Puig opposed to the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, leading the Valencia plate.
The rest of the ministers – except for Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, and Justice, Pilar Llop, who like Calviño renounces going on the lists – are also already in place. The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, will once again lead Seville’s candidacy; that of Agriculture, Luis Planas, from Córdoba, and that of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, from Cádiz. In Barcelona, the one from Culture, Miquel Iceta and the one from Transport, Raquel Sánchez, enter a list led by the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet.
Other figures have been received with more prevention. Sánchez did not want to leave in the lurch neither the former Minister of Transport and former Secretary of Organization, José Luis Ábalos, two for Valencia, nor Carmen Calvo, who after doubts about her inclusion on the Córdoba list, will lead, not without internal discomfort, Grenada list. Also expected to return to Congress, for Almería, is the former PSOE parliamentary spokesman, Antonio Hernando, who after a strong estrangement with Sánchez (he was the one who defended the abstention at the investiture of Mariano Rajoy) was recovered in the fall of 2021 as deputy the president’s chief of staff, Óscar López.
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