The Popular Party (PP, conservative), the main opposition force in Spain, was heading this Wednesday night to elect the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as the new leader, replacing Pablo Casado, who after five years of leadership resigns as a result of a partisan crisis that left him almost alone.
Internal claims for Casado’s departure multiplied last Monday, when his right-hand man, Teodoro García Egea, resigned as general secretary of the party.
Urged by this fall, Casado convened for this Wednesday night the party leaders of the regions of Spain, at the PP headquarters in Madrid, where Everything indicated that Feijóo would be invested as the new chief, although it was not known whether as a transition leader or a stable one.
For now, while Casado and Feijóo held a meeting behind closed doors, the “barons” of the PP anticipated when entering the meeting their willingness to exalt the Galician leader, who represents the traditional wing of the party and has a strong internal prestige.
One of those leaders, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, defended before the press the need to give “time and space” to Casado, who worked “very hard” in the last three years and “deserves recognitionunderstanding and affection”.
“You have to have humanity, we are going to listen to you,” another of the PP “barons” said off the record. “It depends on him,” added another leader outside the cameras, adding that only when was missing, but the decision to relieve him had been made.
Next week the date of the Extraordinary Congress will be decided, which is calculated to be between the middle and the end of March, and the idea that prevailed this Wednesday afternoon was to arrive at that meeting with the crisis resolvedin such a way to recompose the PP before it has to be measured in elections.
Vox, from the extreme right, is on the rise after having entered parliament in 2019where it is already the third force behind the PP and the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).
Casado, who at 41 was the youngest leader in the history of the PP, appeared before the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, for the weekly session in which the leaders of the benches ask the head of government questions about the state of affairs public.
He entered the chamber surrounded by a cloud of journalists to read a farewell-flavored speech that was also intended to be a declaration of principles, according to the Spanish press.
“I understand politics from the defense of the noblest principles and values, from respect for opponents and dedication to colleagues,” said Deputy Casadoturning his gaze to his colleagues on the bench in the chamber of parliament.
The earthquake in the PP began last week, when Casado confronted Díaz Ayuso, the PP’s most valued politician, over a controversial mask purchase contract for which the brother of the president of the Community of Madrid benefited from a commission of at least 55,000 euros.
Casado even suggested that Díaz Ayuso could have engaged in influence peddling and opened an internal file for her, but just hours later he closed it after talking with her and considering that he had resolved his doubts.
But since then, Casado has seen how a good part of the leaders of his formation withdrew their support, especially after the press denounced that the party authorities wanted to spy on Díaz Ayuso’s brother through a private detective agency.
After the president of the government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, wished Casado -in what could be his last face-to-face in the hemicycle- “the best in his personal life”, the conservative leader quickly left the room before exercising your right of reply.
Sánchez also took the opportunity to reproach Casado for his way of exercising the opposition, recalling that in the last two years “he settled in constant disqualification”, even denying “basic democratic principles” by sowing doubts about the legitimacy of the government, according to the Europa Press news agency.
Casado lost two national elections to Sánchez’s socialists.
His control over the party was shattered by his rivalry with Díaz Ayuso, who last year won a major victory in a local election for the region surrounding Spain’s capital. and looking for a bigger role.
The internal struggle broke out in recent days when Díaz Ayuso accused Casado and García Egea of ”spying on her” regarding her brother’s role in the negotiation for the controversial chinstrap contract.
Casado responded a day later saying the contract with his brother was “almost illegal” and worthy of a party investigation. Both Díaz Ayuso and Casado denied any wrongdoing.
Sánchez guaranteed that he will not take advantage of the internal crisis of the PP to advance the general elections, scheduled for 2023.
“I announce to you that the government of Spain is not going to advance the general elections nor is it going to dissolve the Cortes Generales (parliament) in advance; this is a government with a sense of State that is going to put general interests before any other type of interest. “Sánchez said in the Congress of Deputies.
Likewise, he made a call to “widen the space of centrality” so that both the PP and the PSOE can live in it “without the need for pacts with those who do not believe in Spain”, an expression that he habitually uses to refer to the independence formations.
