From the peculiar setting of Isla Mágica, the amusement park located in Seville, Ada Colau challenged the PP this Saturday with a proposal to expand the coverage of the public health system that contrasts with the model of “weakening” the service in Andalusia. In front of some 600 supporters, the coalition led in this province by the until now parliamentary spokesman for Izquierda Unida, Enrique Santiago, has asked for a vote for his ballot, appealing to the usefulness of the group in the Government with the PSOE, a way to distance itself from its rival on the left, Adelante Andalucía, in a context that predicts a tough battle for the seat in this constituency.
One year after the outbreak of the breast cancer screening crisis – with thousands of women who were not scheduled or suffered very serious delays in following up on inconclusive mammograms – Colau has advocated including “teeth, vision and hearing aids” in the catalog of services, and has proposed a specific “protocol” to care for women from perimenopause. The announcement is also made in the autonomous community in which citizens have the worst perception of their health system. Only 38.8% of the population has a positive opinion, 12.8 points below the national average, according to the CIS health barometer published last March.
"In Andalusia you are suffering from a right-wing government that is weakening public health. We want to guarantee that public health is not affected and its resources increase; for this we must raise taxes on the rich, to put an end to waiting lists and for right-wing gentlemen to stop doing business with health," he warned before defending the expansion of coverage to have a truly "universal" system. "Nothing can be left out. Are teeth not as important as our hands, or eyes as our heart?" asked the former mayor of Barcelona, who thanked the historical contribution of Andalusian workers to making the city of Barcelona the international benchmark it is today.
Seville has been the first stop chosen in the official Frente Amplio campaign. Santiago, leader of the PCE, is the second deputy with whom Antonio Maíllo's party hopes to gain a seat this term, after Toni Valero, number three for Madrid and coordinator of IU Andalucía.
The published surveys grant only one possible representative for FA in the community, compared to the six achieved in 2023 and the three or four aspired to by Adelante, a young, anti-capitalist and Andalusian party, which has eight regional parliamentarians.
"We are the people, we are the same as always, the working class organized in the unions. Those of the Broad Front are those who fought against the dictatorship and brought democracy, the women who promoted feminism, those who stop evictions and picket, those who dignify the life of the Andalusian countryside. The FA does not renounce any democratic path to make people happy," Enrique Santiago claimed in his speech. The candidate has marked differences with those of José Ignacio García, who advocate influencing a progressive executive, but from the outside. "We do not give up fighting in the streets and fighting in the Government. It is the rich who do not want us in the Government and to expropriate homes you have to be in the Government. The Government in our hands is a weapon of transformation," he maintained, although he wanted to clarify: "We do not dispute the vote of other left-wing options." The deputy has stated that in Seville support for the coalition “is worth double” because it is guaranteed to the left and is one less “for the chainsaw” of PP and Vox.
Valero, who also participated in the event along with Emilio Delgado, head of the list for Madrid, and Verónica Barbero, the fourth, has highlighted the role of Sumar this legislature and has questioned the calls for a useful vote that endanger his representation in favor of the PSOE or Adelante in different provinces. "The useful vote is not about who gets the seat, but about what that seat is for. That is why the useful vote for the FA is from those who do not agree with the PSOE, from those who do not resign themselves to a government of Feijóo and Abascal," he defended.
"We have a country project, a purpose. Ideals to fight for, that differentiates us from the PSOE; we are not satisfied. We know that the PSOE cannot be convinced to carry out left-wing policies. We must force it. Does anyone doubt that the increase in the minimum wage would have been done without us, or the extension of maternity and paternity leave, or the arms embargo on Israel?", he added.
At a rally in which housing, once again a central element of the campaign, has been present in all the interventions, Delgado has also demanded a “strong” State. "On the right, especially young people, they have introduced an anti-elite discourse. But it is curious, because the only power they have attacked is the power of the State. They have not attacked the economic power, nor the technological power, nor the financial power, nor the media power. The only power that bothers them is the power of the State, which is precisely the only power in which you are safe. It is the only power in which people decide with the vote," he assured.
There have also been allusions to the debate between economic spokespersons broadcast on Friday night on La Sexta. Sumar's parliamentary spokesperson, generally in a more serious register, has taken advantage of her slip-up some time ago in Congress when she referred to the Vox deputy, José María Figaredo, as “Frigodedo” to use it again as the parliamentarian's nickname. “Today I'm going to call it Frigodedo, because Pablo Bustinduy took it out of the freezer and left it melting in the sun,” Barbero celebrated to the applause of the audience, in an event that opened with the group Biznaga and closed by singing the anthem of Andalusia.
