The PSOE has a problem of autonomous consolidation. Pedro Sánchez assumed this after the Galician elections and prescribed a “generational change” in the territorial leadership. A process that is expected to accelerate after the European elections, once this electoral cycle is closed, with a view to holding a federal congress in the fall and from there, in cascade, the regional congresses to renew the general secretariats. In Extremadura and Valencian Community They went ahead of the planned process and this weekend their respective extraordinary congresses were closed. In Galicia, the PSdG will do it next April. Three territories in which their general secretaries took a step aside to renew themselves. In Ferraz it is expected that this will be the general trend.
Aragon is one of the territories where the federal leadership most wants a change of leadership to begin preparing the alternative. The team of Javier LambánHowever, he is not in the mood to either speed up the calendar or accept without resistance what they predict as candidates anointed by Ferraz. The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands are two territories where their general secretaries share the intention of continuing to lead the organization, despite having lost their institutional power in the last elections. Ángel Víctor Torres, Minister of Territorial Policy, and Francina Armengol, president of Congress, are related to the federal leadership. However the Koldo case has affected the Administrations that directed. The European Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office will investigate its contracts with the alleged corruption plot.
At Ferraz they trust that everything will end up archived and they defend the honesty of their management, but they recognize that the investigation could last up to two years. This situation would not have to interfere in the processes of territorial renewal, but in the socialist leadership they insist on their neutrality and value internal democracy through primaries. In fact, in Estremadura was imposed Miguel Angel Gallardo against the candidate most similar to Madrid, Lara Garlito. In the Valencian Community, Ferraz managed to place the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, while in Galicia José Ramón Gómez Besteirothe one preferred by the management, will be the only candidate after delivering the endorsements last Friday.
The Koldo case has shaken institutional politics, but also organic life after the expulsion of the former Secretary of Organization and Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos. Both Torres and Armengol, who are not being investigated, They enjoy the full support of Ferraz and Moncloa. However, the investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office continues to cast doubts as it intersects with the territorial renewal process.
“Life cycle completed”
Given the territorial decline of the PSOE, which was consolidated in the last regional and municipal elections with the loss of the majority of its institutional power, in Ferraz there is urgency to “do your homework”. A generational renewal in the regional leaderships that, they say, could not be faced first because of the call for the general elections and, later, because of the long investiture process. Now, they want to address it without delay after the European ones. A broad renewal that is naturalized as part of a “completed life cycle.” “Just as the PP could do it, when it was in the opposition, we have to do it now,” argue sources from the leadership.
Beyond Aragón, where all eyes are directed to the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, to take over from Lambán, No candidates have been discovered yet.. In territories like The Rioja, for example, normalize this situation. His general secretary, Concha Andreu, assures that he has not made a decision on whether or not to present himself while waiting for candidates who are going to take a step forward. Of course, all of them take for granted a federal congress in the fall and that their regional congress will be held between the end of this year and the beginning of 2025. And Pedro Sánchez himself publicly assured that territorial renewal is a “task that I have to to do as general secretary of the PSOE.”
Autonomy in the territories
The message that is conveyed to the territories is that they must rearm and promote “transversal” leaderships, with the ability to gather support beyond the acronym, to stop its electoral decline. Strengthen “long-term projects” to gather votes “beyond the PSOE.” A member of the executive, who shares territorial responsibilities, reads it positively because after the last municipal and regional elections there must be “a change of phase.” Refers to “a new batch” and “younger” leaders. Of course, as he emphasizes, “leadership must leave the territory” without being “remotely directed from outside.”
A position that is shared mostly within the executive, he says, although it entails a certain self-amendment to what has been practiced in recent years. Not in vain, in some of the territories the management was asked after the Galicians to look back to make another type of self-criticism.
“Without autonomy we have no margin,” they replied from one of the federations after requesting a “reconstruction” of the party structures and making a shift to also attract “external collaborators” who contribute at the program level, analysis and ability to reach different audiences. collectives. The tensions between a more centralist or a more federalist model will not be easy to disappear, while it remains to be seen the resistance to step aside from some of the current general secretaries who lost their governments in the last elections.