“I will be in Andalusia a lot in the coming months, dear Juan.” This is how the Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, addressed the leader of the Andalusian Socialists, Juan Espadas, last Saturday at the start of the political course in Malaga. Since 2012, the PSOE had not stopped losing electoral support in this area, which had always been the party’s electoral territory, so much so that after Juan Manuel Moreno’s absolute majority in the 2019 regional elections, it began to experience a sociological change to speak in Andalusia to the right. However, in the general elections, despite losing two deputies compared to 2010, the PSOE managed to limit some seats, although the PP won again in the region for the third time in a row, which in Genoa they took for granted and prevented Alberto Núñez Feijóo works to guarantee investiture. Strengthening these muscles, which many believed were weak, is part of the future socialist strategy, provided, of course, that the uncertainty of investiture is first eliminated.
“It’s not a coincidence with Pedro, it’s not a coincidence that he says he wants to come to Andalusia more often. It is a place that the PSOE wants to regain, just as it happened with Catalonia and the PSC,” said a senior party leader in Andalusia who was present at the rally in Malaga. The Andalusian Socialists interpret the results of the parliamentary elections – in which they were 100,000 votes away from the PP – as a turning point, as the ground from which they can continue to grow until they retake the Junta de Andalucía. In this path, the socialists rely to a large extent on the erosion of the Andalusian president’s seal of moderation, on the consolidation of the figure of their own leader, both personally and at an organic and parliamentary level, and on the production of the flag of progressive politics that by the two main institutions in which the PSOE governs – the provincial councils of Seville and Jaén – compared to those developed by the executive board and the city councils of the eight provincial capitals in the hands of the PP.
The last general elections failed due to the desire not to mobilize the socialist base, and the province of Seville regained the emblem of the PSOE’s bastion, becoming the only one in which the party won on the 23rd, after previously faltering was elections. Autonomous regions where Moreno’s PP captured the territory and voted for the right for the first time. “The heart of Andalusia does not move if the PSOE of Seville does not beat.” This is a statement made by the Secretary General of the Socialists of this province, Javier Fernández, mayor of La Rinconada – one of the most elected in the 28-M – and since the beginning of July is also president of this provincial council.
Fernández recognizes that the pacts between the PP and Vox were crucial to this reactivation of the socialist electorate, but insists that in the case of Seville, “when the supporter starts to believe that he can win,” when voters mobilize. This euphoria also extends to the rest of the Andalusian socialists. “We came from very painful situations, but we demonstrated the resilience of the PSOE in Andalusia,” says the senior official interviewed. “23-J was a turning point, but to restore hope and win again in Andalusia we need more,” warns the president of the Sevillian Provincial Council. “We need a greater dissemination of the message to build a clearly alternative project in Andalusia and to consolidate the figure of Juan Espadas,” defends another member of the party leadership.
No debate about the leader
Two years after he won the primary against Susana Díaz, the general perception is that Espadas has not established himself as a leader in his own party. But the endorsement of Sánchez last Saturday and the words of the organizing secretary and leader of the PSOE list for Seville, the acting minister María Jesús Montero, who supported the Andalusian leader: “We will work tirelessly to ensure that you are the next president of. “Andalusia,” he said, are considered “a recognition of the results in Andalusia and its Secretary General” at the head of the regional formation. Sources from the Andalusian PSOE acknowledge that the former mayor of Seville has not surrounded himself with a compact and solid team during this period – “he needs to move from 10 groups, one for each cause, to a single and strong group that can do it “Communicate strong ideas with solvency and agility,” they claim – and that it still needs to increase its visibility among voters. “People expected a little more from Juan, but he is like diesel cars, he has more endurance and performance, he never shined in the first battles, but he needs to be more incisive,” says a veteran PSOE leader from Seville. “If the government is formed in Madrid, we will have to see how it is perceived more clearly by party colleagues and in parliament. Andalusians must see it as a reference,” adds another senior party official. However, they all agree that the Espadas must remain at the front of the formation. “At the moment there is no point in opening this debate if the PSOE is regaining the support of citizens and narrowing the differences with the PP,” says one of the sources interviewed. “There is a future project with Juan, it would be counterproductive to get into the succession crisis again,” says another interviewee.
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The PSOE-A has three years to establish itself as an alternative. Its leaders believe that the times – which will inevitably pass because Pedro Sánchez remains in La Moncloa – and the political board are currently accompanying the recovery strategy of the Andalusian PSOE. A path that deepens the attrition of the CEO. “We are starting to see that the Moreno-Bonilla effect is wearing off. People must be constantly agitated and the constant confrontation with the Spanish government, the situation of basic services, which is an absolute disaster, and above all the ridiculous manifesto made with Doñana, are beginning to take their toll,” said Fernández Listen. . “In the first elections, citizens tend to be very generous towards leaders, but then they start demanding and holding them accountable, and Andalusia has fallen into stagnation,” says the veteran leader.
“Moreno has several open fronts that do not penetrate him sufficiently, but it is true that he is not in the same situation as three years ago and that we as opponents are much more encouraged,” claims the senior PSOE-A official interviewed , who recognizes that there is still a lot to do from a parliamentary perspective. But you also see advantages in the new situation after 23 years. “If Feijóo does not receive the investiture, he will have problems and Moreno’s role will become more complicated if an internal war breaks out,” this interlocutor adds.
The President of the Provincial Council of Seville, Javier Fernández, at the beginning of summer.PACO PUENTES
In addition to the fight in parliament, the Andalusian PSOE wants to confront its progressive policies with those of the PP and will do so using the only two provincial councils that it governs and from which it can project its initiatives. “You will see the contrast that they are different forms of government,” the veteran leader said. “We want it to be clear that the Sevillian model is quite exportable, so that people see that there is a different form of management, which will be different because we are left and propose progressive policies.” What comes from the Provincial Council will be a big difference from what was previously predicted by the board,” says Fernández.
As President of the Provincial Council, he has already begun to set the pace. Its management involves occupying the spaces that city councils do not reach on issues of equality, youth, housing, depopulation, drought, transport or climate change, and managing to address the inequalities between communities in this to balance the area.
Save the voice of the middle and strengthen the Andalusian Sumar
In the PSOE of Andalusia it is believed that a large part of the votes of the socialist sympathizers who voted for the leader of the PP, Juan Manuel Moreno, in the previous elections returned to the formation in the parliamentary elections, and they believe that this is the case. The attrition of the CEO can further explore this trend. Several of the leaders interviewed are of the opinion that “after moving to the left in order not to be overtaken by Podemos, in order to strive for the majority it is necessary to work in the center, a vote supported by Ciudadanos was taken over and which has now been taken over by “the PP.” . However, others believe that at a time when absolute majorities are the exception, the alternative is to strengthen the PSOE’s left. “The only way to govern the board again is to agree with them,” they claim. An obvious example that still hurts is the mayoralty of Seville, which was lost because the left ran separately. The sum of their votes would have given the socialist candidate the opportunity to govern. Some leaders advocate giving the confluence formations the meaning of purely socialist flags such as democratic memory or issues of equality.
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