Mónica García in the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly with a sign that reads “Long Live Public Health” EUROPA PRESS – FERNANDO SÁNCHEZ (EUROPA PRESS – FERNANDO SÁNCHEZ)
—What is Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s weakness in the face of the municipal and regional elections on May 28?
—Let the idea spread among citizens that healthcare is not working in Madrid.
The candid response of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, chief of staff to the regional president, in a report by EL PAÍS revolutionized left-wing opposition to the PP government earlier this week. The confession, combined with the massive demonstration in defense of public health that toured the capital on Sunday, the failure of negotiations to end the general practitioners’ strike and the ban on hanging their posters in health centers, focuses on the goal of Más Madrid , PSOE and Podemos during the plenary session on regional government scrutiny held this Thursday at the Madrid Assembly. As Alejandra Jacinto of Podemos says to Ayuso: “Even if you don’t like it, you will have public health for breakfast, lunch and even dinner.”
Public health is the lever to bring about change of government, strategists on the left are convinced, whatever some polls are saying right now, this coincides with the PP as the clear winner of the next elections. The fear of losing a mainstay of the welfare state could mobilize left-wing abstainers, they say at the opposition headquarters. And that’s why the spokesmen for the left kept banging on the subject this Thursday in the plenum of the assembly, making Ayuso ugly, questioning and interrogating her, surrounding her with data and opinions. Because here, they think, the elections will be played.
“She will go down in history because she was the only president who turned a million people against her health care bungling and her government,” blurted Mónica García, president of Más Madrid. “You’re more nervous every day,” he continues. “The latest is to try to ban posters in health centers. Which zodiac sign bothers you exactly?” he asks. “The one without a doctor? The one without a pediatrician? The one without an appointment? The one with whom we didn’t build the health center that we had promised for 10 years?” healthcare”.
With the same intensity but different results, Juan Lobato, leader of the Socialists in Madrid, worked hard. “He has banned health professionals from covering what is happening in public health in Madrid. And I remember his campaign slogan: Communism or Freedom. What freedom!” he exclaims. “You can ban whatever you want, but the problem will not go away (…) You should listen more and ban less,” says Lobato.
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Ayuso responds by reading a city ordinance that aligns with his ordinance on health centers in the idea of maintaining the neutrality of public space. And he starts: “Does it sound like you? It is yours. They signed it as Mayor of Soto del Real in 2016.
The President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, shows photos of health centers with protest posters during the plenary session of the Assembly Rodrigo Jimenez (EFE)
This counterattack is the Madrid President’s only triumphant moment in a plenary session, because the one who sails with an unremarkable profile for her average, although she leaves several detailed descriptions of violations to criticize the reductions in sentences for rapists after the passage of the Yes Law is yes. The opposition has responded with criticism, and Agustín Moreno, a Podemos MP, stands up with a sign written at the time that reads 7,291, referring to elderly people who died in residential homes during the worst of the pandemic.
The Regional President is in her favorite territory when summoned with the cloak. Any opposition criticism of the health crisis becomes an argument to support their thesis that the basic services strike is “political” and will last until the elections. At the same time, the debate serves him to launch slogans of his voters’ taste, such as: “The best public health in Spain is that of the Autonomous Community of Madrid”. And he also uses the existing cameras to show photos of health centers full of protest posters. “It’s disgusting and we have to stop it because we have to defend public decency,” he says. “Patients don’t have to put up with their union demands.”
But it’s an Ayuso on the defensive or, at best, on the counterattack. The dynamism of the plenary session is a symptom that the tide is not blowing in favor of the regional president’s interests. In fact, the appointment even includes two toilets chaining themselves to the enclosure fence and a dozen demonstrating in front of Parliament.
Ayuso left Madrid to visit Israel last weekend, which allowed him to be away from the region during Sunday’s demonstration. On his return, however, like all travelers who pack their bags hoping that the trip will transform them of its own accord, he felt like the problem hasn’t gone away. It’s gotten even worse. And it opened an unexpected path for the opposition in light of the May 28 regional and local elections.
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