One summer evening, during a Taburete concert in Salobreña (Granada), José Berto Casares was offered a fundamentally unappealing offer: to run on the Ciudadanos list in the municipal elections in May. The 48-year-old businessman declined the proposal so as not to “complicate life” even more. Casares had already run as the PP’s number two in the 2019 elections in the coastal city of 12,477, but disagreements with the party’s provincial executive led to his abandonment as city councilor mid-term. Despite initial reluctance, the urging of the Cs community spokesman and the desire to stand up for his people caused the politician to rethink. “I met a friend who was walking along the beach promenade and he told me that my head was gone,” says the Exedil this Wednesday, two days after announcing that this time he will appear on a citizen voice. A formation immersed in a tough process of the primary elections taking place this Thursday and about to culminate their re-formation with the polls on the ground.
Summer is over in Salobreña, but the tropical climate that the community enjoys means that this Wednesday the sun shines on the beach bar, where Casares tells his story, dressed in a shirt and sweater that he practically “can’t spare.” ” has. The weather conditions in the area favor the cultivation of vegetables and fruit, products that the businessman sells throughout Spain and other countries. As a freelancer, he manages a transport company with nine trucks, around ten employees and an annual turnover of around two million. “I don’t run for the money. My idea was to end the legislature with the PP,” continues Casares, whose principles are also “related” to the Cs program. “I want to keep helping my people. And I also like Ciudadanos because I think we have to keep changing, not always being focused on them.”
Casares is an unusual case. One of the main problems that Cs carries with it was precisely the reverse jacket change: from Ciudadanos to the PP, in recent months in an intensified trickle due to the upcoming elections in May. The President of the People, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has reiterated his “open door” policy towards the “talent” of the Cs, in order to expand their political space as much as possible, avoiding vote splitting and even trying to avoid lists to submit certain communities. As an example, the mayor of Badajoz, Ignacio Gragera, announced in December that he would run for the PP instead of Ciudadanos, the formation with which he received the command. “I think we need to unite the centre-right now, and that’s what the leaders, activists and voters of Ciudadanos are called upon to do,” Feijóo said on Monday.
Blame Casares for jumping into the pool at such a critical moment for Cs was the formation’s municipal spokesman Plácido Leyva. “We became friends in plenary sessions. And I convinced him because I want the best managers on my list,” Leyva says at the bar with Casares, while the businessman takes non-stop messages about his work. But both are aware of the exceptional nature of their decision. “Salobreña will be famous for Macarena Olona and for José Berto,” jokes the Cs speaker and candidate, referring to the controversy sparked by the registration of the former Vox candidate for the Andalusian elections in the same municipality. They also recognize that the Ciudadanos crisis will irreparably “damage” their outcome at the national level. In the 2019 municipal elections, Cs was the second most elected force in Salobreña with 745 votes. He reached two councilors who have been working by the opposition against an IU-backed PSOE government.
José Berto Casares (i) and Plácido Leyva (d) in front of the Castle of Salobreña. Carlos Gil
But the situation then was far removed from today. This Thursday, 7,642 Ciudadanos affiliates are called upon to vote for their new leader after an internal war broke out between their parliament speaker Edmundo Bal and President Inés Arrimadas. The primary campaign was also particularly muddy, marked by harsh allegations between the three candidacies. Bal, Patricia Guasp or Marcos Morales will referee the game from this Friday. “We fought for two months. But it’s okay if people confront each other and talk. Of course, whoever wins promotes unity, and from now on we will all row together,” stresses Casares, who cannot vote for not having enough seniority. Restoring relations between the members of the Cs, especially within the faction, will be one of the main obstacles from next week. An obstacle on which the contesting suitors agree.
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Casares, satisfied with the process of re-founding the party, which will see its final stage this weekend with the General Assembly in Madrid, which will be attended by 400 delegates to approve the new statutes and present the future executive board, is skeptical about the result in Salobrena. “It will be difficult, but local politics is different. The campaign must focus on Plácido Leyva and less on the initials. The neighbor counts here,” he says.
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