SEVILLE, 07/25/2023. – PSOE-A Secretary General Juan Espadas addresses the media just before his meeting with the Regional Bureau this morning at the PSOE-A headquarters.EFE/ José Manuel Vidal José Manuel Vidal (EFE)
The PSOE of Andalusia experienced the night of July 23 as a party, despite suffering its third electoral defeat in 13 months. The secretary-general of the Andalusian Socialists, Juan Espadas, considers the fact that the absolute majority of the PP and Vox was stopped a success and estimates that last Sunday’s recount, which the socialist leaders celebrated with applause at their Sevillian headquarters in San Vicente, suggests that the Andalusian federation, the most numerous activist, “is gradually winning back votes” and “has the pulse” that gives it hope of once again being an alternative government and to win in the European 20 24 and regional planned for 2026.
This party has seen little joy since the Junta de Andalucía, the municipality’s largest corporation, lost power in 2018 after almost 37 consecutive years. Since then everything has gone downhill and gotten worse. In June 2022, the PP was pushed through with an absolute majority in the autonomous parliament; In the local elections of May 28, Juan Manuel Moreno’s PP consolidated this change, winning the local governments of the eight capitals and the presidencies of six of the eight councils; and on July 23, the mainstream parties added 25 seats (10 more) to the Congress of Deputies, while the PSOE won 21, four fewer. Andalusia is the municipality that elects the most MPs (61).
Neither PP nor PSOE counted on this data. The most popular in excess: they hoped to reach thirty based on their polls. And the Socialists by default: they didn’t give a dime to keep the 25 seats from November 2019, so the four difference seats that the PP took from them still taste good.
Espadas considers the 564,224 votes the PSOE has recovered in Andalusia since the June 2022 autonomy elections, when he received 888,325 votes with him as the candidate for the presidency of the executive board, as his voting ground. “We’re not cheering, but we’re not gone either,” he said now. In the municipal elections two months ago, Espadas justified the PP’s victory in Andalusia with the “success of the harassment strategy against Pedro Sánchez”, an argument that is no longer valid. Some sacked mayors, like Seville’s Antonio Muñoz, also sought explanations for their defeat in Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government. “This defamation strategy had penetrated the city authorities. And now those who have remained silent have mobilized and engaged,” he said. The turnout in the general elections in Andalusia was 68.9%, seven and a half points higher than in the municipal elections.
Another electoral argument that has now worked and destroyed the PSOE in Andalusia was the warning against an alliance of the PP with the extreme right to form the central government. When the federal leadership got it underway, some Andalusian provincial officials frowned. They did not agree that this message was correct, because the Andalusian experience was still very fresh in their minds. About 16% of Socialist voters would have preferred Juan Manuel Moreno to Espadas to prevent Vox from entering the Andalusian government, according to the CIS post-election poll.
But the same thing not only didn’t happen to Pedro Sánchez, it also worked for him after PP and Vox reached agreements in different autonomous communities such as Extremadura or the Valencian Community. “Circumstances are different and moments are different and now citizens have spoken out very clearly about it,” the socialist leader said.
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Espadas has disregarded voices calling for a leadership change in the Andalusian PSOE. Before meeting his regional executive, he stressed that he would maintain his “constructive opposition” to the Andalusian government, although he would increase demand from September. He continues to believe that the strategy he pursued in Seville City Council when he won the mayoralty is the way forward, although not everyone in the PSOE shares this opinion.
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