The PSOE has risen from the ashes of 28-M entrusted to a Pedro Sánchez, risen again as a promoter of the impossible. The silver bullet of the July 23 election lead did what seemed like a utopia, and did not miraculously shorten the regime change that had plagued the right for half a legislature. In a stunning and epic comeback, the Prime Minister has outdone himself with a new demonstration of his Resistance Manual. Again against all expectations, in the same way that Sánchez was elected Secretary General of the PSOE in 2014 and 2017 and won the motion of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy in 2018.
In Ferraz, defeat tasted like victory. The PP did not complete the referendum on the Sanchismo, punished by the co-government pacts with Vox in the Valencian Community and Extremadura, as well as in dozens of town halls. The consequence is a victory that is not enough to reach La Moncloa with the support of Santiago Abascal’s party and the hypothetical support of the UPN and the Canary Islands Coalition in a scenario of possible institutional deadlock. The presence of the far right in the equation automatically makes it impossible to stay in tune with other forces and emboldens Sánchez to push the investiture.
“First of all, from the bottom of my heart, I thank all the Spaniards who voted and showed democratic behavior, as befits a great democracy like ours. Thank you to all of Spain because we have shown the world that we are a strong and clean democracy, a great democracy. Thanks to all the millions of voters who voted for the PSOE, we got more votes, more seats and a higher percentage than four years ago. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. “It’s a source of pride, an honor and an enormous responsibility,” celebrated Sánchez, who did not congratulate Feijóo on his victory, at midnight on a stage set up in Ferraz.
“I called the snap elections because I believed that as a society we must decide which direction we want to take: a direction of progress or a direction of decline like that of the PP and Vox. I think Spain has been very clear. The involutionist retreat bloc, which proposed a total cancellation of the advances, has failed. There are many more of us who want Spain to advance further, so Spaniards, comrades, we are more, many more, who want Spain to advance further and will continue to do so!” he said goodbye to the shouts of “They will not pass!” from the crowd. The actual party did not take place in Genoa. Vice-President Teresa Ribera and ministers like María Jesús Montero, Pilar Alegría, Miquel Iceta, Isabel Rodríguez, Diana Morant and Félix Bolaños gave it their best in an unimaginable night, while Pedro de Raffaella Carrà thundered in anticipation of Sánchez. The Verano Azul soundtrack played for a few seconds to mock the PP campaign.
The Socialists are even bettering their 120 seats in 2019 and got 930,000 more votes – 7.7 million, down from 300,000 from the PP, down 100,000 from the local and regional elections less than two months ago – despite a very difficult legislature, which has seen it face the worst pandemic in a century, the highest inflation in 40 years and daily attrition in the fragmented and disparate parliament through polarization and constant right-wing attacks on the president of the executive branch.
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PSOE spokesman in Madrid City Council Reyes Maroto, Minister of Culture Miquel Iceta, Minister Spokesperson Isabel Rodríguez, Minister of Science and Innovation Diana Morant and Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares dance in front of the doors of the PSOE headquarters on election night 23J.
The “good vibes” with which Sánchez greeted this day have led to a mobilization of the progressive electorate they had spotted in Ferraz and La Moncloa in recent days, but which remained under the radar of the big polling stations, which predicted the PP’s comfortable victory by up to 40 MPs over the PSOE. The last week of campaigning was crucial in strengthening the resistance of the Socialists, who have fared much better than expected with a competitive gene that 28-M didn’t show. The mistakes Feijóo made in a final stretch to be forgotten were a spur for the left, activated when the media could no longer publish daily polls, spurred by the mistakes of the PP candidate, who began the week by falsely claiming in an interview on RTVE that his party had voted to upgrade pensions, and ended the campaign by acknowledging that Marcial Dorado was a smuggler when they died in the 1990s became friends over the years. The final spurt of socialism caused the disappointed expectations of the direct clash between Sánchez and Feijóo at the beginning of the election campaign to be forgotten. The bad taste left by the President in the debate with the leader of the PP seemed to be leading the PSOE to disaster, but the party collapsed in a last act of faith.
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The PSOE’s response would not have been possible without the proximity in time of some of the first decisions taken by the PP and Vox governments in municipalities and town halls. The effects of repression by environmental authorities in the Balearic Islands or in La Rioja, by community equality authorities or the censorship of children’s films due to the presence of a lesbian couple for a few seconds or plays by Virginia Woolf or Lope de Vega have helped mobilize teetotalers who stayed at home on 28-M. The PP’s balancing act with Vox’s denial of sexist violence or climate change punished Feijóo enough. Their impact was instrumental in Andalusia being able to regain its status as the traditional breadbasket of the PSOE, retaining 21 seats compared to 25 in 2019. The PSOE feared up to eight seats would be lost, one per province. The PSC flexed muscles and won in Catalonia with a decisive increase from 12 to 19 seats, while in the Valencian Community it gained a seat compared to the previous generals (from 10 to 11), just like in Madrid.
Another factor that sufficiently unsettled and roused socialist voters from apathy was the militants’ reaction to the insults and derogatory nicknames that had become a rallying cry for the right. Songs like “Perro Sánchez” have become a landmark and a source of pride. Attempts to demobilize the PSOE electorate went to the core.
The result also has its internal reading in the PSOE. The vengeance several barons anticipated as they sharpened their knives after the institutional catastrophe of 28-M that took away six of the nine governments they presided over and so many aldermen will have to wait. Those who underestimated the PSOE and Sánchez were the big losers in an election from which Sánchez emerged alive. One more time.
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