The Deputy Secretary of Communication of the PP, Pablo Montesinos (left), and the leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, on November 10 in the Congress of Deputies Eduardo Parra – Europa Press (Europa Press)
The vice-secretary of Communication of the Popular Party (PP), Pablo Montesinos, has denied this Monday that advancing the elections in Castilla y León responded to a mandate from Pablo Casado, the accusation that Inés Arrimadas, leader of Ciudadanos, launched in an interview in EL COUNTRY in which, in addition, it concluded that the regional pacts with the PP in 2019 had been “a serious mistake.” “The word of certain representatives of Citizens is very devalued,” said Montesinos, raising the tone of criticism of the leader of Cs, preferred partner of the PP, whom he has labeled a liar.
According to him, the advance was “exclusive decision” of the president of the region, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, as a consequence of the risk of a budget pact between Cs and the PSOE or even a new motion of censure: “Between motion or elections, the president he has opted for the elections ”, he stated. The PSOE already presented a motion of censure last March against the president of Castilla y León, which did not prosper when voting against Ciudadanos.
The announcement of the electoral advance in Castilla y León on December 20 caught the leaders of Ciudadanos, who were part of the Government coalition in the autonomous community, by surprise. Both Arrimadas and Francisco Igea – confirmed this Monday as a candidate for the elections by Cs and former vice president of the Board – accused Pablo Casado of ordering the advance of the elections to favor “his career at La Moncloa.” In an interview in RNE, the person in charge of Communication of the PP has answered that “the main problem of Inés Arrimadas is that she lied to the Spanish on the eve of the motion of censure in the Region of Murcia. He sold stability when he negotiated with that Pedro Sánchez who according to Ciudadanos is very bad ”.
In the interview published this Monday in EL PAÍS, Arrimadas has affirmed that the Government pacts with the PP after the 2019 regional elections were “a serious mistake”: “The PP was given the four presidencies of the autonomous communities at a time when the one that had gotten their worst result (…) If they had been loyal partners there would have been no problems, but seeing how they have used the nuclear advance button, of course we could have negotiated much better. You cannot give a bipartisan party so much power for free because we already know how it uses it. “
Edmundo Bal, number two Citizens, has supported the statements of Arrimadas, although he has clarified that the governments with the PP “have achieved very good things, as is being demonstrated in the Junta de Andalucía.” Also the Andalusian vice president and leader of Cs, Juan Marín, has corrected his leader as far as the Junta de Andalucía is concerned: the pact in that community, he said, was not a mistake. “We are not wrong, it was negotiated well and the Government works perfectly, with a management that is putting the community as the economic engine of Spain,” he said.
The Andalusian is the only regional executive where the PP-Cs coalition government is still standing, after the break in Murcia, Madrid and Castilla y León. Bal added that “the problem” has been “to give the four presidencies” with the power that this gives them to “unexpectedly dissolve” the regional assemblies and call elections “in their own personal interest.”
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The number two de Ciudadanos has also argued that Casado interfered in Mañueco’s decision: “Mr. Casado is urged [el anticipo electoral] to cover the success of Mrs. Ayuso within her party (…) That is why she calls Mañueco to advance the elections despite the fact that this is not in the interest of the citizens of Castilla y León (…) Having said the day before that he did not think to advance the elections ”. Bal has also announced that the party will defend as a “political program” the coalition agreement reached with the PP after the 2019 elections.
Montesinos has reiterated the “real risk” of a motion of censure and has given as an example the one that occurred in Murcia in March. “Some people [de Ciudadanos] They said that stability was the first thing and then they concocted in the offices of La Moncloa that motion of censure that finally did not go forward ”. In his opinion, the Castilian-Leonese citizens “have understood it very well”, since today they grant a “very large absolute majority” to the PP, he has affirmed in reference to the latest polls published on the intention to vote in the elections of next February 13 .
The person in charge of Communication of the popular has made a call to “unify efforts”, with the intention of uniting the vote around the popular: “We appeal to the disgruntled socialist voter and all the center-right voter and we tell them that the Party Popular is their common home. If you want the policies of Fernández Mañueco to continue to be applied, you have to bet on Fernández Mañueco ”. And he has even raised it to the national level: “If they don’t want Mr. Sánchez and his radical allies to rule, there is only one option: to bet on the Popular Party.”
Regarding the possibility of governing with Vox after the elections, Montesinos has refused to clarify whether the party would be willing to form an Executive with the far-right party: “We want to govern alone, with our hands free. We are working on that and the polls say that we are close to the absolute majority ”.
