A political earthquake centered in Madrid jolted Spain, with Isabel Díaz Ayuso winning the autonomy elections held on Tuesday.
From a relatively minor figure in the People’s Party (PP), Ayusu continued to outrun the rest of the opposition, defeating his own party leader, Pablo Casado. And more than double the number of seats in the Community of Madrid Assembly, from 30, elected in 2019, to 65 out of 136 deputies. Even so, the party will need to count on at least 13 Vox MPs abstaining – but the far-right party has even offered its support for the presidency even without joining the executive.
Even Ciudadanos, which has stolen space in the center-right of the People’s Party in recent years, has been deemed dead, losing all 26 of its representatives in Madrid, shortly after blatantly bleeding in the 2019 legislative elections.
“We are back to being the great party of Spain,” Casado gladly declared, at the headquarters of the People’s Party, on Avenue de Genoa, referring to the weakness of the coalition government of Pedro Sanchez. The PSOE party collapsed into parts in the capital, going from 37 representatives in Madrid to 24, its Unidas Pode allies winning anything, increasing from 7 to 10, and Más Madrid, founded by Íñigo Errejón, was surprised with 24, compared to the previous 20 But these gains were not enough to offset the collapse of PSOE. Not surprisingly, many socialists have already asked about the head of their candidate, Angel Gabelondo, until he managed to be the most voted candidate in the 2019 elections.
“We suffered a defeat we did not expect,” he admitted publicly to the second man in the Spanish government, Carmen Calvo. In the face of Ayusu’s victory, which was achieved with the message of rejection of restrictions towards Covid-19, on horseback from fatigue with the closure of restaurants, bars, hairdressers and gyms, and shouting “Communism or Freedom”, Calvo insisted upon remembering that “the word freedom cannot be emptied,” and demanded So instead of “talking about imperialists”, we should judge politics as “programs, management and work.”
Among the Unidas Pode directors, the feeling was also a deep bitterness. Indeed, the party’s founder, Pablo Iglesias, decided to abandon politics after the “failure” of the left in Madrid.
“Leave all my posts. I advertise a policy that is understood as both party and institutional politics.” “I will not be a barrier to the renewal of leadership that must result in our political power,” Iglesias asserted, lamenting that he is a “scapegoat”, always persecuted by successive accusations from the right – since allegations that he accepted money from the Venezuelan regime, even from corruption – that is mobilizing “The darkest and anti-democratic forces”.
The “blackest, most anti-democratic forces” that Iglesias referred to as likely, Fox, were very satisfied with Tuesday’s result. It was an “extraordinary result”, in order to “stop the Socialist-Communist attack on Madrid’s society, he made sure to shine a spotlight on the party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, and immediately offered his support to Ayusu, without even demanding a merger of the executive.” However, the leader insisted. The Madrid executive, however, left the doors wide open for this possibility.
“I want the best, where they came from,” Ayusu stressed at a press conference, when asked if his CEO would be monochromatic. “I had Ciudadanos advisors who deserved it, and if I find them on Vox, I will count on them.”
In practical terms, this is an important tactical shift in relation to CSADO, which was already showing some openness to the far-right party, but not without reservation – Ayeosu’s electoral success could cause a similar shift in other societies, or even in the level of national politics.
In fact, there is no shortage of suspicion that Casado, who is trapped in the leadership of the national opposition, and has the power to do more than criticize Pedro Sanchez’s government, risks being stuck in the turn by Ayoso – his personal friend, being seen as a safe choice for em 2019 , For loyalty to a weak leader, but, with his hands on the richest, most influential and privileged society in the country, he became the bedrock of Sanchez’s shoe. Standing as a kind of pop star on the right.
It is a tension that can be heard between the lines of Casado’s speech, right after Tuesday’s resounding victory. “The Madrid People’s Party was the usual PP,” he insisted, highlighting the popular leader. “Isabel is pure PP. It’s four-sided PP.” However, Casado probably found no joke when he heard his great rival, Alberto Nñez Vigo, the great PP Baron of Galicia, bragged dearly to Ayuso – “one word is enough: amazing,” he said at a meeting of the trend, according to sources. Country – when he was still questioning his leadership recently.
Historical participation
Even the voters in Madrid showed the idea that, in Tuesday’s elections, there was a lot at stake from the executive branch of the capital of Estaban – the turnout was massive, with a historic turnout of 76.25% of the electorate, the highest, and far from the vote. 68.08% from 2019.
Initially, the elections were not particularly conducive to large participation. With the spread of Covid-19 – 782 new infections were recorded in the capital alone, this Tuesday, with 19 deaths – and adherence to major hygiene and isolation measures, many Madrillinos are expected to lose interest in going to the polls.
However, the pandemic appears to have been a major driver for many voters, given that much of the winner’s message revolves around the topic. In fact, the restrictions that IOSO accepted towards COVID-19 are not only more relaxed than recommended by the government, but also characterized by the rules applied in other societies ruled by the PP.
However, rejecting public health measures is not just what Ayusu brings to the table. Its program also promises “the largest tax cut in the history of the Autonomous Community of Madrid” – this despite the fact that the capital has the highest per capita income in the country, but has the lowest per capita income, according to data from the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Economic.
