In Genoa they see Sánchez “desperate” with resources such as the image of Feijóo with the narco Marcial Dorado: “We thought he would leave that resource for generals”
Although the turning points seem constant in the coalition government, the PP believes that the crisis over the reform of ‘only yes is yes’ (with the two parties breaking up in the vote and several regular partners positioning themselves on the side of Unidas Podemos and giving back to Pedro Sánchez) implies and “crumbling” executive total and their parliamentary alliances. The thesis that they handle in the PP continues to be that the president of the Government “seek to resist” and that he will only consider removing the purple ones from the Executive if it suits him.
In the environment of Alberto Núñez Feijóo they do not consider that there really are ministers of Podemos who can leave the cabinet although, at the same time, they maintain that “in the galloping cynicism” of Moncloa “everything is possible, even breaking here and agreeing again with them after the regional and municipal ones”. What they do see clearly in Genoa, they affirm, is that Sánchez gives constant displays of “desperation”.
And in this framework they also place the recent interventions of the president, “going down to the mud” and making references “in the middle of a control session in Congress” to the image of Feijóo on a boat together with the Galician drug trafficker Marcial Dorado. “We believed that this resource would leave it for the general elections. It has become clear that he is going for everything”, say management sources, insisting that that photo “is already history” after the two absolute majorities that the then president of the Xunta reissued again.
The climate that Genoa sees, in any case, is that of a sure victory in the generals. In the conservative dome they claim to be around 34% of the vote (and not above the 32% that most surveys continue to reflect), which would place them more about 150 seats. Even so, he is far from the 176 of the absolute majority.
All the national polls except those of the CIS continue to reflect an evident superiority of the PP over the PSOE, but leaving it in the range of 130-138 deputies. The one from GAD3 (a company that also does polls for the PP) published in Mediaset this week did reflect the figure of 150. “We believe that if you really voted today, we would have more support and we would get to that,” they say emphatically.
Feijóo has been touring Spain for weeks and supporting its regional and municipal candidates. This Monday he traveled to Extremadura, another of the regions in which the PP sees options to govern. In any case, as he published THE SPANISH NEWSPAPER, from the Prensa Ibérica group, the twist in the Genoa strategy is obvious. If a few months ago they took it for granted that they would seize important positions from the Socialists, now the mantra they repeat is that they will win the May elections in votes.
That the map will be dyed blue beyond the governments that are satisfied, either by the sum of the left, by the incapacity of the right or by not giving in to Vox. Feijóo insists on repeating his offer to the PSOE to govern the list with the most votes in consistories, autonomies and in the face of the general elections. Although he could add up with the extreme right, he would be willing to facilitate the investiture where the Socialists won, as long as the agreement was “reciprocal” and the PSOE allowed the PP to be invested where it won. All this coinciding with a very sweet moment in the polls for conservatives.
The popular insist that Sánchez is mired in a credibility crisis from which they believe it will be impossible to overcome. They do not deny, yes, that the PSOE will do better in the month of May. In fact, most regional governments can lean one way or the other. The PP looks closer in La Rioja and the Balearic Islands. Also in Extremadura they now have very good impressions. Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community or Aragon, the three territories in clear dispute with the Socialists and considered the key places, are not at all clear.
Regarding the fact that this change of cycle is visualized in May, in the environment of Feijóo they downplay importance, evidencing the strategic turn: “The change of cycle will take place in December. In May there is a very powerful exam, it is the equator pass, but the final, the most important, is the generals”.
The post-electoral pacts of the autonomous and municipal will be seen by the management with the barons. “We will have to see how Spain is as a whole, all the communities, the cities… And let’s see what the PSOE says. What will he do, if he only cares about not letting the PP govern anywhere ”, they settle in the conservative leadership. Again, Feijóo insisting on the idea of avoiding agreements with Vox at all costsin an animosity that, as this newspaper published, they do not share in many territories either.
It is true that in the direction they no longer hide that the national leader thinks of “governing with what comes out” but, at the same time, they do not hide the fact that the goal that Feijóo is thinking of is clearly the general ones. What remains to be seen is whether he will be willing to make any sacrifices along the way if necessary.