The new faces of the PP of Feijóo, protagonists of the internal battles in Navarra, Asturias, Aragón and La Rioja

Feijóo came to the leadership of the PP after a coup that ended the mandate of Pablo Casado. His main leitmotif after the acclamation congress that elected him president, last April, was to restore internal unity. For a few months, it seemed that way. Much of the party lined up behind the Galician leader, who arrived in Madrid endorsed by four absolute majorities.

But, with the elections just around the corner, that image of harmony has vanished. And not only because of her public discrepancies with the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with whom he tries to show a harmony that her statements deny. At an organic level, her arrival has not only not solved the internal problems of the party after the successive electoral bumps of 2019 but, in some cases, the situation has worsened.

The most recent example is that of Asturias, where the president of the party, Teresa Mallada, who was imposed by Pablo Casado without holding an autonomous congress, pending since 2017, has resigned from her post after being publicly disavowed as a candidate in May 2023. The leader was bypassed by her number two, Álvaro Queipo, who met outside his own address with Francisco Álvarez Cascos, Vice President of the Government with José María Aznar and protagonist of the regionalist split, Foro Asturias.

The national leadership, through the mouth of the deputy secretary of Organization, Miguel Tellado, supported Queipo. It was not just any support: Tellado was Feijóo’s right-hand man in Galicia and has landed in Madrid with the mission of preparing, together with the Andalusian Elías Bendodo, the PP for the important municipal and regional elections.

The expected departure of Mallada and her formal resignation to be the PP candidate, despite presiding over the organization, has revealed the absence of a replacement. If there is, only Feijóo, Tellado and Bendodo are aware of who may be the one trying to snatch from the PSOE a fiefdom that has almost always voted to the left.

The only name that has sounded in recent weeks is precisely that of Álvaro Queipo. Sources from the national leadership have repeatedly refused to confirm, or rule out, his candidacy. “He has done a good job”, is the only thing that is heard when asked about the general secretary of the PP in Asturias.

‘Dedazo’ from Madrid

What they do assume at the national headquarters in Madrid’s Calle Génova is that they will be the ones who will elect the candidate in Asturias, as happened in La Rioja a couple of weeks ago. Despite the attempts of the bases to hold an autonomous congress to elect the president of the party and candidate, as the statutes mandate, everything was limited to a meeting of the Regional Board of Directors that sent Gonzalo Capellán to head the list while the president resigned. outgoing, José Ignacio Cenicereos.

The election of Chaplain received the unanimous vote of the body. Days before, he was photographed during a meeting with Miguel Tellado. The image was published in the media and many party leaders learned at that time that the one who was the Minister of Education during the last government of Pedro Sanz was considering returning to politics.

The system used in La Rioja will serve for Asturias. And it was also intended for Navarra, where the PP not only does not have a candidate, but it is not even clear whether it will repeat a coalition with the provincialist right of UPN or choose to appear alone at the polls.

Relations between the historical allies are going through one of their worst moments since the betrayal of the two UPN national deputies, Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero, who broke the mandate of the party leadership and voted against the labor reform. Both have launched a platform with signs of launching a candidacy and maintain very good terms with PP leaders, with whom they have been seen both in Madrid and in Navarra.

But last weekend the party managed to put together a candidacy to hold the regional congress, pending since last year. In principle, there will be no rivals and, therefore, the primaries that Feijóo shuns so much will not be held. Congress with a list that is proclaimed by acclamation, and something else.

The single candidacy, which has the endorsement of Genoa, is headed by the current deputy in the Parliament of Navarra Javier García, who is accompanied by Senator Amelia Salanueva. They are the two most outstanding names of the Navarrese PP, so, predictably, the candidacies for May of next year will come from this duo.

Azcón, between keeping Zaragoza or facing Lambán

The conclave will be held next December, just five months before the elections. It is the term given in Aragon to elect their candidate. The president of the party, Jorge Azcón, has not yet unwrapped the daisy: opt for a second term as mayor of Zaragoza or gamble on trying to kick Javier Lambán out.

The norm indicates that the autonomous president must be the autonomous candidate. But Zaragoza is a square important enough to think a lot about changing the mayor, who is easy to repeat, for a regional hypothesis. The national leadership says that the decision is in the hands of Azcón, although they cross their fingers so that he chooses to take the leap and fight for the General Council of Aragón.

He saves his answer for now. And it is given until December to decide. “We are in a period of reflection,” sources close to him assure elDiario.es. “Important decisions should not be made in a hurry. Until December we are on time ”, they conclude.

In the national leadership they jealously guard the names of the candidates they have already decided on, while they search against the clock for those who are about to be ratified. And they are still not completing the municipal lists.