The unexpected electoral advance in the Community of Madrid has caused a political earthquake that has forced the parties to rethink their electoral strategies, aware that these elections will also have a national reading. Since the second vice president of the Government, Pablo Iglesias, decided to make the leap to regional politics, the drip of names has been constant and, in just a couple of weeks, more than a dozen political figures have joined the lists for the 4M: from the ‘number two’ of Ciudadanos (Cs) in Congress, Edmundo Bal; through the Secretary of State for Migration, Hana Jalloul and the president of the Higher Sports Council, Irene Lozano; to the spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgage (PAH), Alejandra Jacinto.
Political leaders elected in other regional parliaments have also decided to join the 4M candidate project. This is the case of Toni Cantó, exporter of Citizens in the Valencian Courts, who left his seat a week ago unhappy with the direction of the ‘orange’ formation after the motion of censure in Murcia. While other civil society figures with prominent positions, as the vice president of the Madrid LGTBI Collective (COGAM), Santiago Rivero, or the historical memory expert Manuela Bergerot have also decided to join forces for next May 4.
And it is that beyond the ‘number one’ themselves, which are already powerful, the candidates they are shielding the lists with these prominent civil society personalities and media names in a race to destabilize the adversary and maintain his political space in one of the regional parliaments with the most influence in the country.
Although these decisions will not be decisive in some cases, it should not be forgotten that the incoming government will have a mandate of only two years – since in 2023 elections will be held again in the Community of Madrid-, therefore the irruption of these new profiles could be only the first step to become known and embark on a rising political career for years to come.
He sang, the only “outside” signing of Ayuso
The electoral list for the 4M of the ‘popular’ Isabel Díaz Ayuso has a continuity character. Except for the “outside” signing by Toni Cantó, who will attend the elections as ‘number five’, the rest of Ayuso’s team will be made up of the advisers of the current regional government and the same profiles that he surrounded himself with in the last elections.
The Madrid president guaranteed that all the councilors of the current regional government would go to the top of the list. In fact, this same Friday he announced that he will take the current Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, as ‘number two’ on his list to the Madrid Assembly. They will be followed by the general secretary of the PP, Ana Camíns, and the party’s spokesperson in the Assembly, Alfonso Serrano. Although the irruption of Cantó in fifth place, it places the majority of advisers of the PP of the current Government of Ayuso behind. Behind him are David Pérez (Housing), Enrique Ossorio (Education), Eugenia Carballedo (Presidency), Javier Fernández-Lasquetty (Finance) and Paloma Martín (Environment).
He will also have a position on the list of Ayuso -the sixteen- the housing advisor of the Madrid City Council and former national deputy Marimar White. Miguel Ángel Blanco’s sister was head of the PP list for Álava in the generals of November 2019, but she was left without a seat. While the list will be closed by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
The president of the Community of Madrid will include the strongest profiles of the ‘popular’ in Madrid with the objective of obtaining an absolute majority to be able to govern alone after breaking a few weeks ago with his coalition partner and dismissing his hitherto vice president, Ignacio Aguado, and the rest of the Citizens councilors. However, several polls suggest that, although Díaz Ayuso would win the elections, he would need at least Vox to govern and, in some cases, abstention from the formation led by Inés Arrimadas.
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Gabilondo yields to Jalloul, Llop and Lozano the first positions
Ángel Gabilondo will repeat as PSOE candidate for the Presidency of the Community of Madrid to unseat Isabel Díaz Ayuso, whom he already surpassed in the last 2019 elections. The socialist leader has opted for a profound remodeling of the list, including in the top positions young profiles and with management experience.
One of his first signings was that of the current Secretary of State for Migration, Hana Jalloul, who will be his ‘number two’ in the 4M race. Although it is a great unknown to public opinion, it has long stood as one of the highest rated leaders in the party and in the Government, so this could be the first step in his journey towards the socialist candidacy in two years. In a firm commitment to women, he announced that the president of the Senate, Pilar Llop, who is also a judge specializing in gender violence, would also join his team as ‘number three’; in addition to the president of the Higher Sports Council, Irene Lozano, as ‘number five’.
And, in terms of inclusion, they will also be part of the candidacy of the PSOE the general director of Disability Policies, Jesús Celada, as’ number six‘and the vice president of the Madrid LGTBI Collective (COGAM) Santiago Rivero.
Jalloul, number 2 of the PSOE in the 4M: “We are clear that the Government we want is with Citizens and More Madrid”
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With his sights set on winning the elections, as he did in 2019, the key this time will be which parties and blocs mobilize their voters the most. For this, Gabilondo will also include in its list other profiles with experience in Madrid management such as mayorss, including that of Soto del Real, Juan Lobato, or the deputy mayor of Rivas, Mónica Carazo.
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Bal bets on Ignacio Aguado’s team
Citizens know that their survival is at stake in the 4M elections, after the debacle in Catalonia. The first polls indicate that the formation could even fall below the 5% of votes necessary to enter the Madrid Assembly, hence Inés Arrimadas has been forced to force the machine and bring Madrid to its current ‘number two’ in Congress, Edmundo Bal.
His victory in the primaries held this Monday, in which he garnered 89% of the votes of Madrilenian affiliates, is a true reflection of the internal confidence that agglutinates. Faced with the dichotomy communism or freedom championed by Díaz Ayuso, Bal could continue to be a refuge for the moderate vote that flees from the confrontation and even end up agreeing with the socialists if necessary, after Gabilondo’s offer and the relationship with the ‘popular’ Madrilenians is almost non-existent after the breakup of the Madrilenian president.
The candidate will surround himself with many familiar faces of the parliamentary group of the last two legislatures, among which is the deputy Esther Ruiz as ‘number two’ and with the party’s spokesperson in the Assembly, César Zafra, as ‘number three’. The president of the Assembly, Juan Trinidad, or whoever was the Vice-Minister of Budgets, Assets and Hiring of the Madrid Executive, will be in the following positions. Bal has decided, in this way, to bet on Ignacio Aguado’s team, without star signings or major changes after the abrupt departure of some parliamentarians such as Sergio Brabezo or Marta Barbán or that of others, who will continue to collaborate from outside, such as the former Minister of Transport, Ángel Garrido.
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Iglesias surrounds himself with profiles of his trust
Although if there has been a clear bet to save the future of its formation, it has been that of the current Vice President of the Government, Pablo Iglesias, who abandons his position in the Executive and the leadership of United We Can at the national level to challenge Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the presidency . In fact, Iglesias’ unexpected announcement was a coup that has forced the parties to reconfigure all the pieces of the political board both at the national level and in the Community of Madrid.
Iglesias leaves the Government after a year of marked discrepancies with Sánchez and the PSOE
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The leader of the ‘purple’ formation intends to attend the elections with a list of Known political profiles in the region, and also of people you trust. Thus, its ‘number two’ will be the spokesperson for United Podemos in the Madrid Assembly, Isabel Serra, who was also the candidate of the confederal space in the 2019 elections. The ‘numbers three and four’ will be for the secretary general of Podemos in the Community of Madrid and Deputy Mayor of Alcorcón, Jesús Santos, and the director of the Women’s Institute, Beatriz Gimeno, respectively. While ex-chief Julio Rodríguez, one of Pablo Iglesias’ greatest men of confidence, will attend the elections as’ number five ‘.
Currently, the party is immersed in a process of internal primaries that will formally conclude on March 28, to later agree on the positions of the coalition with the United Left (IU). It will be then when the jurist, political scientist and activist Alejandra Jacinto, currently spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), a very symbolic signing at a time when housing has become the main workhorse of the ‘morada’ formation.
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García includes personalities from civil society
On their journey to the Madrid Assembly with Más Madrid, they will accompany Mónica García, who replaces Íñigo Errejón as head of the list, names of EQUO -with whom they concur in a coalition-, and other prominent civil society personalities. His number two ‘will be the current spokesperson for Más Madrid, Pablo Gómez Perpinyà, and its ‘number three’ the expert in historical memory Manuela Bergerot, who began as head of communication and institutional relations in the Argentine Complaint against the Crimes of Francoism.
Sixth place is held by Alejandro Sánchez, founder of Equo in 2011, who has been the spokesperson for the Commission for the Environment, Land Management and Sustainability, while on the list there is also space for deputies such as Eduardo Fernández Rubiño and Tania Sánchez, which was number three on the 2019 charts.
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Abascal will direct the Vox campaign
In the case of Vox, the current leader of the party in the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, will repeat the candidacy, while Santiago Abascal will be in charge of directing the electoral campaign. It is still unknown who will accompany them in the candidacy, although the spokesman for the Vox Political Action Committee, Jorge Buxadé, assured this Tuesday that his formation will not require being part of the Government that leaves the polls if his list is not the most voted by citizens.
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