Extremadura, the only resistance to Sánchez’s territorial “OPA”

Only Extremadura, Cantabria and Murcia will hold primaries this January to determine who will lead the party in these communities. And, in fact, Extremadura seems to be the only socialist federation that is going to show signs of resistance to the territorial roller of Pedro Sánchez, who, for the moment, is managing to force the resignation of all critical voices to place like-minded people, as has already happened in the Community of Madrid, Castilla y León and Andalusia.

On the 11th, the future of Extremadura’s PSOE, which is fighting like a dog, is decided. The only debate between the two candidates, the current leader Miguel Ángel Gallardo, and the former education minister, Esther Gutiérrez, was full of reproaches. Gallardo has lost the favor of Ferraz who bets on Gutiérrez, but Gallardo has more weight because – theoretically – he controls the Badajoz federation, which is larger than the Cáceres federation controlled by Gutiérrez.

In Cantabria, Murcia and Aragón there are also alternative candidates who are resisting Ferraz, but the chances of the critics winning seem minimal. In Cantabria, the party is very divided between the supporters of Pablo Zuloaga, current general secretary, and Pedro Casares. Zuloaga lost the primaries to elect the Cantabrian delegation to the federal congress against Susana Herrán by a narrow margin of votes, but his rival was replaced in the federal executive. At the moment, only Zuloaga has announced his candidacy. Casares has not done so. In Murcia, two candidates will compete for leadership. Former Secretary General Diego Conesa in front of the member of the federal executive and deputy, Francisco Lucas, who has the support of Ferraz.

In Aragon, the Minister of Education and Government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has taken the step to appear at the congress to be held in March. Juan Antonio Sánchez Quero, president of the all-powerful Zaragoza Provincial Council, will not appear in the primaries representing Javier Lambán’s sector, and neither will former vice president Mayte Pérez, but Darío Villagrasa, until now organizational secretary of the PSOE, will. Aragonese, mayor of Bujaraloz. However, Sánchez Quero’s impartiality directly breaks the Zaragoza federation, the largest in the community, and has divided its provincial deputies who “do not want to open a war with Madrid,” according to Aragonese socialist sources. Alegría has work, but in a few days a path has opened up for her that was almost unthinkable two weeks ago.

Andalusia and Castilla y León cleared their future yesterday. The first to throw in the towel was Juan Espadas, although he retired with a constructive speech. Of course, he resisted until the end despite the fact that he was gradually losing support. The Espadas movement leaves the field free for the candidacy of María Jesús Montero. The vice president announces her candidacy today and has the skills to lead and integrate the different families. His landing is taken for granted and everything indicates that he will follow in the footsteps of ministers in charge of territories such as Salvador Illa, Óscar López or Diana Morant.

The second to leave was Luis Tudanca. Three days ago he communicated his decision to Sánchez and the truth is that without the support of León and Valladolid his candidacy was weakened compared to that of his possible adversary, the mayor of Soria, Carlos Martínez. It was urgent to close without wounds, and without fratricidal fights, the leadership of Castilla y León and Andalusia because both are the ones that will hold elections first and a weakness of the PSOE could be taken advantage of by the PP to advance elections.

In La Rioja, Madrid, the Canary Islands, Asturias, Euskadi and Navarra there are no surprises. Javier García has been the new general secretary of La Rioja for a few weeks as no other candidate has presented himself, just like Óscar López in Madrid. María Chivite will continue to lead in Navarra, Eneko Andueza in Euskadi and no surprises are expected in Asturias with the re-election of the regional president Adrián Barbón, nor in the Canary Islands where Ángel Víctor Torres will continue to lead. With questions, there are Murcia, Cantabria, the hornet’s nest of Extremadura and Aragón.

In Galicia, the former secretary general, Gonzalo Caballero, is encouraging the primary process, criticizing the management of Ramón Gómez Besteiro and Valentín González Formoso. It does not seem that there are going to be changes in the Galician federation but Caballero contrasts his management and results with those obtained by Besteiro, which are objectively much worse.