The municipal and regional elections of May 28, which began this Thursday in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, developed into a double battle: all candidates against Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the candidate of the PP, and Díaz Ayuso against Pedro Sánchez, the president of the PP Government (PSOE). With two weeks to go, the campaign will decide whether the Conservatives retain power in the region’s two main institutions and how the left is affected by having split the polls into multiple brands: Más Madrid, PSOE and Podemos. -UI at the regional level, adding the Recupera Madrid brand in the capital.
Ayuso and Almeida start the 28M as the first round of generals
The PP campaign has started in 2023 the same way it did in 2021: when Isabel Díaz Ayuso cracked down on government president Pedro Sánchez, the party focused on turning the elections into a first round for the year-end general elections, and the leader transformed into the icon on the right. But a lot has changed in those two years. If in 2021 and in the same square in the capital as this Monday, Díaz Ayuso asked to make the Autonomous Communities of Madrid the springboard that would take Pablo Casado to La Moncloa, this time it was the turn of the new popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Where the front runner was looking for a comfortable win two years ago, an absolute majority is now required. And if at that time her responsibility was limited to the regional result, this time as the new president of the PP in Madrid she will also be examined on the basis of the municipal results.
Because it doesn’t matter that this Monday the versions of the Metropop music group are playing live on stage, that the crowd crowding the square wants to celebrate and that the flags of Spain, Madrid or Venezuela are in the air. The 28M is played against a dog’s face. Every vote counts.
“How fortunate to be doing everything so that Madrid and Spain can start again,” said Díaz Ayuso, who intervened shortly after the police expelled a group of doctors from the area with balloons and signs depicting the temporary character denounced her profession. “I beg you not to trust us [con los buenos datos de las encuestas]”What happens in Madrid will resonate throughout Spain, it will change the course of this country,” he continued. “These governments [los de la Comunidad y el Ayuntamiento, ambos del PP] It is they who will miss Spain until Feijóo arrives at La Moncloa.”
Martínez-Almeida, who celebrated “Spain’s best election card” with Díaz Ayuso, expressed the same sentiment.
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“We will win again so that Feijóo will be the next president of Spain, we owe it to Spain, the first round will be played in Madrid.” [de las generales]said the mayor of the capital. “These elections are the most important ones that Spain has never had, because Spain has never been worse than it was under the government of Pedro Sánchez, we have never been so close to the constitutional abyss, because there is an urgent need to abolish them.” to the ballot box as soon as possible,” he continued. “You have to send a message of hope to the Spaniards that Pedro Sánchez’s days at La Moncloa are numbered,” he stressed. And he asked: “May Madrid be a cry of hope throughout Spain.” The elections go to Sánchez or Spain or to Spain or Sánchez. Don’t doubt it, La Moncloa is not just in Madrid, it’s happening because of what’s happening in Madrid and because of what’s happening on 28M.”
More Madrid to the rhythm of La Oreja de Van Gogh
The Más Madrid candidates for mayor of Madrid and for the presidency of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in Vallecas this afternoon. Borja Sanchez-Trillo (EFE)
Be silent. Van Gogh’s ear rings out: “And today I just want to believe… That you will remember the winter afternoons in Madrid, all those sleepless nights, life passed and I felt like I was going to die of love …” “. An adviser to Mónica García said a week ago that this is the best song to open election rallies these days. The party with the most votes in the 2019 elections in the capital, Más Madrid, is campaigning in Cerro del Tío Pío Park in Vallecas, known as the Park of the Seven Tits due to the shape of its hill.
Here, high up, with an impressive view of Madrid – probably the best free terrace in the capital – Mónica García and Rita Maestre launched their campaign. Nothing is random. Here in Vallecas, Más Madrid proposes as a first electoral measure to abolish the Vallecas Bridge. Put an end to the transit of 250,000 vehicles through this working-class neighborhood. A pronounced election campaign begins here, especially with a view to the town hall, where all polls predict that the PP, while winning the elections, will not have an absolute majority and may even lose the mayoralty as long as we can get the Cibeles Palace to enter for the first time. Here in Vallecas, the two women from Más Madrid, surrounded by around 300 neighbors, Más Madrid relies on word of mouth to keep adding. “The goal is to achieve a better life for all,” said Javier Padilla, number two in the congregation. “We’re just a handful of votes away from being mayor,” said Rita Maestre. “We’re playing the final between the PP and Más Madrid,” added Mónica García. “This is not about Pedro Sánchez or the national key. It’s not a first round. Madrid isn’t a starter, it’s a main course. Here we will talk about doctors, kindergartens, health, education and housing.
We can: “The key” of Madrid
The Podemos candidates, this Thursday. Fernando Sanchez (Europa Press)
“A van came with another tent. If it doesn’t arrive, we’ll take what’s mounted and leave,” said one of the militants minutes before the start of the Podemos-Izquierda Unida-Alianza Verde campaign. But the tent arrived on time. At seven in the evening, a hundred people cheered the capital’s candidate for mayor, Roberto Sotomayor, and the presidential candidate of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Alejandra Jacinto. Both were sponsored by Podemos Secretary General Ione Belarra. The place chosen as a symbol of neighborhood struggles is the Plaza de la Asociación, in the Orcasitas neighborhood. And the music, songs by the Madrid group Tremenda Jauría. “Take off the ground, fly back, start from scratch, from Madrid to the sky,” says one of the lyrics.
Sotomayor is excited and has made several promises. On the run. The first: “I want to say it now, I’m going to close the Valdemingómez incinerator, it’s time for the Vallecanos to stop sweating.” It’s over”. The other two: free public transport and closure of betting shops. “Me I have strong, stable legs, and not just from years of walking.”We will not bow to the Vulture Fund, nor to Florentino Pérez, nor to any speculator,” he cried.
“We are very excited. You win, yes. Eager to evict Isabel Díaz Ayuso”. This is how Jacinto has launched the campaign in the neighborhood where he worked as a lawyer and in a nod to those launched this Thursday by the PP Spot: “You want a pediatrician, you want a place in public school, the residents of San Fernando de Henares want a house, you want to cool off in the parks, you want to visit your grandmother in a dorm and that we say, that you ate well. You don’t want to choose between private, concert or unoccupied. Do you want to lower rental rates? We really do, yes,” he continued.
Behind the candidates, the posters and the historic neighborhood association Orcasitas. Applause, a few cheers and that’s it. Have to wait. “It’s hot but hey I’m looking forward to it,” said a woman with a purple scarf around her neck, the same one who gave Ione Belarra a bouquet of flowers before the event. Three kinds of flowers in three different colors: red, yellow, purple. And the music started again. This time The Root.
PSOE, in Parla
Reyes Maroto and Juan Lobato hang up posters in Rafaella Carrà Square in the Centro district. JOHN BARBOSA
The socialists, who are starting as the third and fourth force in the community and in the city council, met this Thursday in the Parque del Universo in Parla. Juan Lobato and Reyes Maroto have received their own song “I’m gonna have a good time” by Hombres G, covered by the group La Banda del Patio and together with the Third Vice President of the Government, Teresa Ribera. “There are two weeks ahead where we will make sure there is joy and opportunity for everyone. Madrid is very big,” said Lobato.
The event was attended by many mayors of the municipality, mostly from the south of Madrid. Reyes Maroto also dedicated a few words to Lobato: “We need Juan to govern this community because we need to adopt a useful policy.” The candidate for mayor of Madrid referred to José Luis Martínez-Almeida and “his lies “ alluded to. “Anyone who wants to govern must take responsibility for their policies,” he said.
Villacís: “For the third time I will be mayor”
Begoña Villacís, this Thursday in the Salamanca neighborhood. Daniel Gonzalez (EFE)
The Ciudadanos candidate for mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, has launched her campaign in an attic on Calle de Serrano in the capital. “In the first election campaign I managed to become a city councillor. In the second case, deputy mayor,” he said, according to the Europa Press news agency. The event was attended by the President of Ciudadanos, Adrián Vázquez. Villacís wants to be decisive in the capital and gets 5% of the vote.
With information from Beatriz Olaizola, Irene Vega, Juan José Mateo, Manuel Viejo and Europa Press.
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