María Guardiola pressed the button for early elections in Estremadura for him December 21 and the focus immediately turned to the figure of Miguel Ángel Gallardo, the general secretary of the Extremaduran PSOE, who will go to the polls with the stigma of being prosecuted in the case of the brother of the president of the Government, David Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, for the alleged crimes of prevarication and influence peddling in the Badajoz Provincial Council.
Gallardo has called the media to send a message to sailors: he is going to be the socialist headliner, despite his political instability in recent months, increased by internal criticism within his own party and by the express qualification to become a regional deputy, an action described by the investigating judge in the case, Beatriz Biedmaand for the Badajoz Courtas “fraud of law.” Names like the Extremaduran minister Carlos Cuerpo or that of the president of the Assembly from Extremadura, Blanca Martinas substitutes for Gallardo have not emerged now but for a long time now, despite the fact that the former president of the Badajoz Provincial Council won, and twice, in the primary process, although on both occasions with the province of Caceres against, and by an overwhelming majority in Badajoz.
No primaries for advancement
To stop speculation as soon as possible, the regional Executive of the PSOE of Extremadura met this Tuesday in Merida to propose candidacy without the need to hold primaries. The next step is that the Regional Committee officially confirm it in a call scheduled for tomorrow. The last word will be Federal Committee. Gallardo has explained that her Regional Executive has unanimously requested the “exceptionality” of not holding the primaries, despite the fact that it is included in the statutes of the PSOE due to the exceptional nature of the electoral advance and the consequent time pressure (54 days are left until the elections).
In this way, after publishing this morning the Official Gazette of Extremadura the call for elections on December 21, the parties now have until November 19 to present official candidacies for the elections. The electoral campaign will begin on December 5, which will end on Friday the 19th.
In this context, Gallardo has confirmed that he will be the candidate: “I have strength and ambition for this land to change,” he stressed, to then accuse Guardiola of using the electoral advance as a “personal political springboard” because, he indicated, that the president of the Board “did not want budgets, she wanted elections.” According to the general secretary of the Extremaduran socialists, the head of the Executive “has used the budgets as an alibi to justify a decision previously made,” and has called elections “due to lack of leadership.” “He has decided to flee rather than govern; he has resigned from Extremadura,” he declared.
In his opinion, “the only legislative achievement” of the PP Government has been “to repeal the Democratic Memory Law” and he has criticized that the elections “have not been decided in Extremadura, but in Genoa.” He has promised that the PSOE will face the campaign “with responsibility, confidence and hope.” “We know how to govern, listen and comply,” he said, ensuring that the PP “will not find a self-conscious PSOE.” “Extremadurans will know how to distinguish between those who govern for themselves and those who do so for this land,” he noted.