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El Partido Popular [Popular Party], historically the most important party of the Spanish right-wing, began last weekend a new stage, in which it hopes to overcome its most recent crisis and regain the confidence of voters.
After a crisis involving the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; and the then president of the PP, Pablo Casado, the party has chosen, during its 20th extraordinary national Congress, a new leader: Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
It is worth remembering that only two months ago one of the fastest-growing leaderships in the European country, Díaz Ayuso, was threatened after she admitted on February 17 that her brother received money from the company to which her government awarded a 1.5 million euro contract during the pandemic. The statement by the president of the Community of Madrid came with an accusation against the PP leadership.
Ayuso said there was a plot against her for wanting to run to lead the party at a regional level. This after it became known that she could have been spied on by people hired by the Popular Party itself. The secretary-general of the PP, Teodoro García Egea, called the accusations “very serious” and announced the opening of an investigtion against the president to “purge responsibilities.”
However, the outcome was contrary to what García Egea intended, and the crisis ended with her and Pablo Casado’s departure from the leadership of the party and Díaz Ayuso with strong support from the citizens, who showed their support in various ways, confirming, once again, that the leadership of the president is growing.
Despite the situation, the tone of the party congress was different. Not only was there unity among its leaders and militants, but there was also a very clear approach on the part of the new party president: to come to power.
“We are the party that defends the Spain of the autonomies, diversity in unity, but the PP is not a federal party (…) We are not a hinge party, we are the party of the majorities, we are the party that wants to win and govern,” said Alberto Núñez Feijóo when he was proclaimed as the new president of the Popular Party.
The right-wing in Spain is going for power
Not only Feijóo, but also the former presidents of the Government, Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar, recalled the party’s capacity to manage efficiently and insisted on the need for the right-wing to unite and be forceful in its intentions to win again.
It is also necessary to highlight the speech of President Rajoy, who knew how to keep the spirits of the audience high during his speech, but at the same time showed a message of political height, which highlighted his experience.
All this happens before the also imminent growth of the Vox Party in the polls, which also seems to understand the opportunity they are living.
What is certain is that the Popular Party, the one that promoted democracy and that manages to combine the efficiency of conservative policies with liberal principles, seems to be back to return. This is good news to Spain and the West, where leadership is not usually reasonable, empathetic, and efficient. Spain’s right-wing is back to defend freedom, opportunities, and equality before the law for all citizens.
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.