Moreno: "I think a change of cycle is beginning"

USPA NEWS - The resounding victory of the conservative Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla in the Andalusian regional elections consolidates the regeneration of the Popular Party. Representative of a new generation of politicians, Juanma Moreno, as he is known in his homeland, forms a trident with his counterpart from Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the president of Galicia, Alfonso Rueda - the three govern with an absolute majority -, with the one that the new leader of the Spanish conservatives, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wants to confront the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Also with the president of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, although in this case he governs in coalition with the far-right party VOX.

Juanma Moreno's victory in Andalusia is particularly important, since this region of southern Spain, the largest and most populous, had been voting for the Socialist Party for 40 years. “What has happened in Andalusia opens a new horizon: from the center the bases can be broadened and a project of large majorities can be carried out. My opinion is that this is the way to go,” said the winner of the elections on Monday. Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla announced that "our model will continue to be proactive and open to dialogue." And he warned: "I think a change of cycle is beginning."

And it is that all eyes were focused on the Andalusian elections. The first electoral appointment after the pandemic and with the war in Ukraine in the background, they were taken as a test on the acceptance or rejection of the policies of the Spanish Government. The Prime Minister himself, Pedro Sánchez, had been personally involved in these elections, supporting the socialist candidate and sending his ministers to campaign. It did not help at all because the Socialist Party obtained its worst result in history, with just over 800,000 votes - far from the psychological million - and three deputies less than in the previous electoral appointment.

At the socialist headquarters in Madrid, this Monday they tried to understand what happened on Sunday so that the conservatives won with an absolute majority. The parliamentary spokesperson for the Socialist Party, Adriana Lastra, considered that the Popular Party won due to the millions of euros transferred by the Spanish Government to the Andalusian regional government, to face the crisis derived from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. And a source who requested anonymity affirmed that the Socialists have not lost the Andalusian elections because, by giving the absolute majority to the conservative Juanma Moreno, they have prevented the extreme right from reaching the Andalusian government.

Apart from these assessments, nervousness spreads in the socialist ranks. The Andalusian elections have been the fourth regional elections that the Socialist Party has lost, after Galicia, Madrid and Castilla y León, and the regional presidents who still hold power, and many mayors, wondered this Monday if they will be the next to be evicted.

Opposite, the conservative Popular Party, which this Monday met its Board of Directors, considered that the victory in Andalusia consolidates the new project of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Winner of the Galician elections for four consecutive terms and deeply knowledgeable about regional politics, the new leader of the Conservatives also represents moderation. And this is important at a time when Spanish politics, after the Catalan secessionist attempts and the appearance of the extreme right, has become tense, reaching personal disqualifications in Parliament.

Neither the warnings about the possible arrival of the extreme right to the Andalusian government and the return of Francoism, nor the allusions to the corrupt past of the conservative party – forgetting the also corrupt past of the Socialist Party in Andalusia – prevented the victory of the new Popular Party. What everyone is wondering is whether this victory will continue in May 2023, in the local and regional elections, and in the legislative elections in December of next year.