Feijóo presents himself as a “manager” to “resolve the problems” in the face of Sánchez’s “looting”

It seemed that, after having fun at El Hormiguero, Alberto Núñez Feijóo had gone to the same thing, to have fun, at the PP's inaugural campaign rally. His host, Xavier García Albiol, the man he has trusted to give a decisive push to the PP in Catalonia, has prepared something similar to a massive afternoon at the Llefià sports center, a humble neighborhood on the outskirts of Badalona, ​​his fiefdom. But Feijóo immediately became serious, aware that this time, in his second attempt, he has a better chance of becoming President of the Government to promote what he sees as a “necessary change.” The popular candidate has presented himself as a solvent manager, capable of "solving the problems" of citizens in the face of the "looting" of a government, that of Pedro Sánchez, with which "everything works worse." “I know how to do it and I have a program.”

After the train accident in Urda (Toledo), Génova reoriented the PP's campaign strategy to shore up Feijóo's profile as a manager. It is the main claim of the candidate, who always boasts of having been president of Insalud, of Correos and of having accumulated four absolute majorities in a row in Galicia. A message around which all the others revolve, such as the attacks on the Government for cases of corruption. “I come to offer something as basic as a Government that does not steal,” said Feijóo in Badalona, ​​who asked himself, rhetorically, “where is the money of the Spanish people” and has promised, once again, that if he enters the Government he will undertake an “audit of the looting”, in reference to the cases of corruption that shake the PSOE.

This alleged misappropriation of public money explains, according to the PP candidate, why the living conditions of Spaniards in housing, health or education have worsened. “The price of housing is nonsense, the shopping basket is nonsense and taxes are nonsense,” the PP leader warned in a pragmatic speech in which, although he put all his good will (“I want to solve the problems of the Spanish people”), he has not, however, outlined his specific recipes to tackle these evils. He left the promises for the party's electoral program, National Reconstruction.

After describing the “electoral strike” of 11-N as a “failure”, Feijóo has warned that “the problem for Sánchez” is that “the Spaniards are not going to strike on 29-N” and will go en masse to the polls, presumably to vote for him. Trying to ride the current of discontent affecting a part of the population, Feijóo wanted to focus his message on specific issues, as his host and candidate for Barcelona recommended, precisely. “We will do it for those who cannot afford housing, for those who cannot make ends meet, for those who pay more taxes and receive less, for those who feel insecure when they go out.”

Feijóo has tiptoed with security because for that he already had Albiol at his side, who boasts of knowing the streets well and speaks the language of ordinary people: in Llefià they understand him. If Badalona governs with an absolute majority it is thanks, in part, to the residents of Llefià, a neighborhood with a high rate of immigration and humble origins (this Thursday it was learned that it will receive, with others from the periphery, 25 million from the Generalitat's neighborhood plan) where it obtained 59% of the votes in 2023. "He is the best!" a woman shouted from the audience. "That's why I asked him!", Feijóo has taken up the gauntlet to applaud Albiol as a mayor "who shows his face, who manages."

“Squatters, your bargain is running out”

For Albiol, the PP campaign should revolve around three axes: illegal immigration, multiple recidivism and home occupation. Feijóo, in fact, has commissioned him to draft an antokupas law that provides for his expulsion in less than 48 hours. “A message for the squatters: your bargain with Pedro Sánchez is over,” said the mayor before accusing the Government of “sending irregular immigrants” from the Canary Islands to Catalonia and of successfully stirring up a certain animosity towards Ada Colau: “If you don't want a Catalonia full of perroflutes, vote for Feijóo.” For the first time, whistles have filled the pavilion.

Feijóo has assured that he has chosen Catalonia to open the campaign because of “its people” (he has alluded to the tense moments of the process) and because of the “conviction” that this community has to be “decisive in the change of Spain and a protagonist in the reconstruction.” After an explicit declaration of love (“all Spaniards love Catalonia”), he has delved into the open wound of Rodalies, again with the bait of a manager who does not sell charisma but does sell solutions: “You have been waiting for too long for the trains to work.”

But there is another reason that he has not mentioned: he needs Catalonia if he aspires to govern. And his tool is Albiol, who has an undeniable pull and a talent for managing social networks. His constant presence on state television, almost with the status of a talk show host, has made him a popular politician. The party is aware that, if it wants to govern alongside Vox, it must obtain a very good result in this community. Sources from Genoa assure that their polls confirm a possible promotion. The campaign team has carried out a “surgical” analysis of the polls to influence the places with disputed votes. And here they are.

In the 2023 general elections, the PP won six deputies (five in Barcelona and one in Tarragona) and missed, by a handful of votes, two of the four it would have needed to win the investiture (in Lleida and Girona). The objective this time is to obtain representation in the four provinces and obtain the first senator (for Barcelona). Hence, Feijóo has chosen Badalona for the first act, after having been at the interview with Jordi Wild in Manresa in the morning. “I don't have the arm of Jordi or the height of

With the far-right and Islamophobic Aliança Catalana out of the elections, Vox is the main adversary. And there Albiol can play his role: with his tough speech against illegal immigration, he has blocked any attempt by Santiago Abascal's team to germinate in Badalona. The main difference of the PP program in relation to 2023 is in immigration: it now proposes measures such as the transfer of migrants to third countries for their return or assuming the “link with Spain” as its own by prioritizing public aid and benefits. Genoa has in Albiol its greatest exponent of these proclamations and also of the fight against squatting, the main backbone of its housing proposals. He also trusts the mayor to steal disenchanted voters from the PSC and even Junts, in the style of the agglomeration that allowed him to achieve the absolute majority in Badalona and with which the manager Feijóo dreams of reaching La Moncloa.

Aznar: Spain “has gotten into trouble and will get out of it on 29-N”

The former president of the Government José María Aznar has been convinced that “Spain has gotten into trouble and that on November 29 it will get out of it.” He has pointed to “corrective elements” to solve “the problems of democracy.” “Democracy is fragile like freedom, but we have tools,” Sebastián Piñera Echenique stated at the presentation of the book. In 50 global voices held this Thursday at Casa de América. Immediately,