Madrid will be one of the great electoral battles next May. An absolute stronghold of the Popular Party, currently with José Luis Martínez Almeida and Isabel Díaz Ayuso to the head. The left wants to dispute the victory. And specifically, in the PSOE optimism has been instilled in recent months to recover positions after a few blurred years and in which they have also lost progressive hegemony in favor of More Madrid. One of the hopes of the Madrid socialist federation lies in the strength of its mayors that it maintains in the Community of Madrid.
The elections of 2023 will be very different from those held in 2021. This is how the socialists hold it. At that time the context was marked by the pandemic and the policies that Ayuso carried out, especially with the hospitality industry. That caught on and the PP leader swept electorally. The elections were also led by the presentation as a candidate of the former vice president of the Government, Pablo Iglesias. Their electoral participation was very polarizing and there was a strong transfer of votes between blocks, according to what they maintain from the socialist ranks.
In addition to all this, citizens will vote for their municipal and regional candidates at the same time. This is not a minor matter for the PSOE. This game governs 60 of the towns in the Madrid region. Although the popular ones have more Town Halls, the Socialists govern eight of the ten largest municipalities in the Community of Madrid: Móstoles, Alcalá de Henares, Fuenlabrada, Leganés, Getafe, Alcorcón, Parla and Alcobendas (in the latter jointly with Cs and with the baton distributed). The PP rules in the capital and in Torrejón de Ardoz.
In the PSOE of Madrid they manage surveys, as this medium published, in the South of Madrid in which his recovery is shown. They continue, in any case, far from Ayuso’s PP although they surpass, in some important municipalities of the so-called “Madrid red belt”, Más Madrid. The latest barometer from the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) indicates that Ayuso would continue to border on an absolute majority.
From the direction directed by Juan Lobato They don’t throw in the towel. They trust that the municipal effect of the Socialists will launch their electoral results. And that Ayuso suffers some kind of wear. They think he “has peaked.” The PSOE in Madrid also looks to its left. Without entering into confrontation with Más Madrid or Unidas Podemos, they do insist on their differentiation. In this sense, they consider that the force they lead Monica Garcia and Rita Maestre it has less municipal implantation than his party. There is also some concern because the UP candidacy that will lead Alejandra Jacinto do not resist the pull and stay out of the Madrid Assembly.
“We are facing a year of change in the political cycle, we are excited. I kick around the neighborhoods and towns and I have a perception of how things are going. The data prove us right. We have high expectations, the commitment of the mayors is a management endorsement of the PSOE of Madrid. The help that the mayors are going to provide us makes us have high expectations,” Lobato explained last Thursday the 29th in his annual balance sheet.
The regional secretary general will often work in tandem with the socialist candidate for mayor of Madrid. Industry Minister, maroto kings was proclaimed a few weeks ago after months of uncertainty and rumors about who would run. The PSOE sees options to dispute the City Council with an Almeida that they also see worn out. Maroto still works as a minister and her schedule multiplies during this time. Initially, it was expected that she would remain in the Government until April, but some sources see options for her to be relieved of her accelerated.
Ayuso, “with his head outside Madrid” and facing Feijóo
In the PSOE they are exploiting an idea. Not only from the Madrid federation but also from Moncloa and Ferraz. The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, would be remote controlled by Ayuso. “Every time he has his head more outside of Madrid. Everything is for the same, to move the chair to Feijóo,” Lobato said in the aforementioned political balance.
From her point of view, the Madrid president is more dedicated to national politics and in criticize Pedro Sánchez than in the day-to-day management of the Community. “His balance is not honest with his management. If he had wanted to be honest, he would have recognized that he has wasted six months facing Mr. Casado and another six months trying to move Feijóo’s chair, to set his course,” Lobato insisted.
Ayuso has not been able to move forward their latest General Budgets. In fact, he has only been able to approve one of four possible disagreements, first with Cs and then with the extreme right of Vox. Nor has Almeida drawn up his latest accounts due to the position of the party led by Santiago Abascal.
The last months of Ayuso’s term have been marked by the health situation. Both with various protests in the street, one of them massive, and with the strike of medical personnel. In the PSOE they trust that the mismanagement of the PP will have some electoral effect. “What Madrid society needs and asks for is that we be able to put on the table a solvent and serious alternative like the one presented a few weeks ago by the PSOE,” they defend in the party.
