That dejected Pedro Sánchez, who said he was tempted to resign, once again seems like his usual confident man these days. Fully dedicated to the 9-J campaign, in recent days Sánchez has appeared again as the leader who exudes security wherever he steps, no matter how many setbacks come his way. You only had to look at the enormous smile with which he appeared this Friday at one of the last electoral events in Madrid, together with the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez. “I have good vibes,” were his introductory words to the audience. “This is an end to the campaign that even if we had foreseen it, it would not have turned out better,” he boasted, almost euphoric.
As if all the previous forecasts for these European elections had evaporated, on the sidewalk opposite to Sánchez, the PP was striving to lower expectations. The most repeated word was “tie”. A draw that, according to Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s insistent warning in his last acts, would be interpreted by Sánchez as a triumph. The popular ones reinforced the message in videos broadcast on the networks, with the hypothetical tie as an emergency alert. Sánchez, meanwhile, gloating and twisting the words of his opponents: “A month ago they said they were going to sweep and today they are saying ‘we are going to tie.”
Jorge Gil (Europa Press)
Only the CIS has dared to predict a socialist victory next Sunday. All other published surveys place the popular ones ahead, without abysmal differences: three points in the case of the 40dB survey. for EL PAÍS and SER. But it is true that a couple of months ago the advantage that all the polling houses gave to the PP was much more substantial. And it is also true that the data from the last few days managed by the parties, already with the demographic blackout in force since Monday, seem to confirm that the distance has been shortened. And another fact to consider is that the PP has had a new competitor at the end of its ideological spectrum, the spreader of hoaxes and conspiracy delusions Alvise Pérez, on the rise throughout the campaign. And that the European elections have always offered the best opportunity for the opposition to punish a Government, especially one like this one, which has been questioned so much and with such bellicosity for its pacts with the independence movement and for the amnesty that it had promised not to accept. never. And that, therefore, anything that is not a resounding victory for the popular people would destroy his speech that the Spanish are crying out to end this Government.
In search of a winning trick, Feijóo and his people have consumed the final stretch of the campaign, ignoring the strict reason for the elections and dedicated themselves to proclaiming an alleged mountain of corruption that would besiege the Government, with the professional activity of the president’s wife as maximum symbol. But the maneuver – unprecedented in the Spanish political debate – of placing the opposition’s target on the president’s partner does not seem to have made a dent in Sánchez’s spirit this time. Conversely, the president walks around exuding enthusiasm and in the PSOE they assure that the PP has triggered a boomerang whose true effect would be to mobilize the socialist electorate. “They are going to be surprised!” He said, joining the chorus, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at the campaign closing rally.
A plebiscite… on Begoña Gómez. One hot morning in early June, a judge appeared to Feijóo. The popular ones could not find the key to raise the tone of their campaign, a “let Txapote vote for you” for a new attack against Sanchismo. The amnesty was no longer worth much, and the PP proclaimed that its big bet was the accusations of alleged influence peddling against Begoña Gómez. They were there, five days before the elections, when Judge Juan Carlos Peinado came to see Feijóo when he announced, a month in advance, that he was summoning Gómez to be declared under investigation.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
“This is a deeply anomalous campaign,” Sumar leader Yolanda Díaz complained this Friday in Valencia. “Everything is being talked about except what people need.” The phenomenon is on its way to becoming a tradition. In May 2023, the PP elevated ETA to the star issue of the municipal and regional campaign, an issue that, however, it barely addressed in the Basque campaign, just as it ignored the amnesty in the Catalan campaign. In these elections that catch Europe in the middle of an existential crossroads, the big banner has been letters of recommendation for a company written by the president’s wife.
For some time now, the PP has turned each election into a plebiscite on Sánchez. His leaders do not hide it, like the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who on Thursday opened his speech at the central Feijóo event in the capital with these words: “Your vote is the end of Sánchez. That is the reason why you have to go vote on Sunday.” What no one could expect was that the plebiscite would end up being about Sánchez’s wife. “This Sunday, or Begoña or democracy,” Federico Jiménez Losantos wrote this Friday, transmuted into one of Feijóo’s great media cheerleaders. The PP has even included Gómez’s image in its electoral videos. The surprise is that the PSOE has responded by doing the same, while Feijóo accused him of “apology for corruption.”
The amnesty is no longer engaging. After months and months of fierce discussion, the amnesty law was approved in the middle of the campaign without ending up monopolizing the electoral debate. The leaders of the PP recognize privately that they have already been politically squeezed to the last drop. And, without ceasing to denounce her, they have displaced her in favor of alleged corruption. Vox has also preferred to look for another focus, in its case immigration. To avoid getting into trouble, the PSOE has avoided the issue and has left its publication in the BOE for next week.
Ideologized bipartisanship. An image of a human silhouette with a raised fist under the slogan “Vote left-handed”; Sánchez, putting on a red worker’s visor with the initials UGT; Teresa Ribera, encouraging the public to sing “They will not pass”… The PSOE has lavished leftist gestures and symbols that have not been seen in a long time. And the Government has handled an issue as dear to the left-wing electorate as the recognition of the Palestinian State. The European context has made it easier for the socialists to present the elections as a battle to stop the extreme right. Added to this is his thinly concealed intention to bring together as much as possible the vote of the entire left, even at the expense of his partners and allies, to, in the worst case scenario, minimize the victory of the PP. The inconvenienced person has been his government partner. “You have to be left-handed in measurements, not in words,” reproached Yolanda Díaz.
![The head of Sumar's list for the European Parliament, Estrella Galán, during the campaign closing ceremony for the European elections held on Friday in Valencia.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/OXJVCSQ47VGM5LP2FCF4OLWXDU.jpg?auth=d06abac0fd2cc2d54f683b769c4839e2a01eebcf43502ea5979e69f98a12888a&width=414)
As in an inverted mirror, the PP has also done everything possible to snatch flags from Vox. The consequence: a rightwardization of the popular discourse on immigration or climate change. Feijóo has been screaming until the last day demanding the concentration of the entire anti-sanchista vote: “Either we vote for the PSOE or we vote for the PP”
The other left. Devastated in Galicia and the Basque Country, and without even appearing in Catalonia, Podemos decided to play all its cards in the European elections. According to the polls, it could turn out well, because you have great chances of entering the European Parliament and also gaining ground on Sumar. The party founded by Pablo Iglesias has played the card of the experience of Irene Montero, the best known of all the candidates, just the opposite of Sumar’s, Estrella Galán, the least identifiable among the main parties. The Gaza war has been Podemos’s big issue. Sumar has had great difficulty in directing the debate to “the people’s problems” and making himself heard in the midst of the Sánchez-Feijóo confrontation. “We must defend the Government, but giving strength to Sumar to win rights,” Díaz asked at the closing of the campaign in Valencia.
![Irene Montero, in charge of the Podemos event, in Madrid.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/CCKAOHCSERCMLKUDFH43M3LJIQ.jpg?auth=5986f8eaca868a7c9a318c10718dd0f22c954b07a3f9f50f07c4afde227a61b5&width=414)
Another ultra creature. Where a battle was not expected was in the camp of the extreme right. But Alvise Pérez has appeared there and his The Party is Over, with a collection of hoaxes, delusions and patriotic exaltations that, according to surveys, will win a prize at the polls after having harvested them in the dark depths of social networks. Vox has tried to ignore him and at the same time give another twist to his speech, with immigration as a big issue. And with openly racist proclamations, such as attacking European socialist candidates on their networks for their Arabic names or the “more walls and fewer Moors” that Santiago Abascal uttered at a rally while threatening to “physically confront” the Government.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#Uncertainty #result #takes #closing #campaign