"I have been president of the Post Office, as everyone knows. First: I fully trust the Post Office postmen. Second: I fully trust the public employees of the Post Office. Third: I do not trust the managers of the Post Office." Alberto Núñez Feijóo responded this Wednesday to the controversy raised by the statements of some PP leaders, such as Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Jorge Azcón, questioning the vote by mail.
The president of the Community of Madrid has asked "everyone not to even think about voting" by mail, and the president of Aragón has assured that his children live abroad, but they are going to return to Zaragoza, to vote in situ. They have thus clearly sowed doubts about the transparency of voting by mail.
Feijóo - who was, precisely, president of Correos from 2000 to 2003 - has thus responded to the press during his first pre-campaign event, in Ceuta. Accompanied by the local president, Juan Vivas, the PP candidate for the general elections on November 29 wanted to "make explicit" his support for the autonomous city.
"But it's not that I don't trust" the directors of the Post Office, Feijóo continued, "it's that I don't trust the Justice Department, because the former president of the Post Office and Mrs. Leire - a person of recognized prestige - are being investigated for, among other things, trying to extort judges, prosecutors and journalists," he said.
For this reason, the PP is going to propose to the Central Electoral Board "some additional measures to increase the guarantee of voting by mail."
Before that, Feijóo has stressed his commitment to Ceuta. "My first task" as president will be to "recover normality in Ceuta" and "Ceuta will be the first folder on the table of the Council of Ministers," he assured.
"I'm not going to ignore what's happening here," he said. "The truth is that Ceuta has not recovered normality and there are still 15,000 people who, irregularly, have invaded the city, and the truth is that the only solution to this situation is for the 15,000 to leave Ceuta, to leave Spain, that is my commitment," he solemnized.
To this end, he assures that he will approve a new Immigration Law that will allow those who enter irregularly to be immediately returned. And, in addition, strengthen as much as possible the staff of officials dedicated to repatriations. As well as the deployment of the Army: "Use all the instruments of the Constitution to stop any crisis, including article 8."
This article stipulates that "the Armed Forces, made up of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, have the mission of guaranteeing the sovereignty and independence of Spain, defending its territorial integrity and the constitutional order."
Feijóo has also promised a Reactivation Plan with Ceuta, with measures such as promoting the construction of 8,000 homes in Ceuta, reinforcing the staff of the public hospital, reunifying Army spaces or applying tax reductions.
Vivas: "Comparison is inevitable"
Before him, Vivas has complained once again about the "pressure cooker" that is the city, in which there are still more than 15,000 immigrants of the 100,000 who, according to his calculations, entered Ceuta on July 30.
And he has entered the campaign: "The comparison is inevitable; we have to choose the 29th and I think it is clear. There are numerous reasons for Pedro Sánchez to stop being president" and Feijóo to be president. For example, he said, "the Spanish deserve a president who defends territorial integrity."
After thanking the PP for its support throughout Spain in the demonstrations on September 2, Vivas stressed that "what is truly regrettable about a party that considers itself a state party and a president like Pedro Sánchez is that he prohibited his militants and leaders from going out on September 2 to defend Spain and defend Ceuta."
