Alberto Núñez Feijóo returned this Saturday to Galicia to assert his experience at the head of the Xunta as the main guarantee of his candidacy for the Presidency of the Government. Before a Multiusos Fontes do Sar packed, in Santiago de Compostela, the leader of the PP has promised an Executive without corruption, without machismo, and without incompetents, and has placed housing among his major electoral commitments: if he reaches La Moncloa, this policy will depend on a vice presidency and his Government will push for the construction of one million homes.
"Spain needs rigor, needs management. I have it and it is called Galicia. That is the endorsement," Feijóo has proclaimed, who has chosen his home region for one of the first major events of the campaign of 29N. It has not been a sentimental visit, although it has also had a bit of coming home. The popular candidate has sought to turn the four absolute majorities he obtained in the Galician elections into a credential of competence to govern Spain, with a message aimed both at his own supporters and at those who still have not decided their vote.
"This campaign will take me all over Spain, but there was a stop that admitted no discussion. I had to come to Galicia," he explained. Amid applause and references to his time in the Xunta, he insisted that electoral victories were not "a gift," but "a contract" with the citizens which, in his view, he fulfilled through management.
The pavilion, packed with supporters and popular officials, accompanied the speeches with applause, chants, and the now usual "¡Oa, oa, oa, Feijóo a La Moncloa!". Alongside the candidate, the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, and the general secretary of the PP, Miguel Tellado, took the floor, turning the event into a show of strength by the Galician organization.
A Vice Presidency for Housing and a Million New Homes
Feijóo’s most concrete commitment has come as he addressed access to housing, one of the main problems he identifies in Spain. After asking the attendees whether they knew the name of the current minister of the department, he took advantage of the public’s negative response to defend a reorganization of his future Executive.
"With me, housing will be within a vice presidency," he announced, before reiterating the goal of building one million homes.
The proposal, which had already advanced in his interview with Jordi Wild, involves eliminating the current specific ministry and incorporating its powers into a vice presidency with the ability to coordinate other areas of the Administration. The PP argues that the shortage of supply requires action on land availability, planning timeframes, and the financing of new developments.
Its electoral program includes a new Land Law, the reduction of the timeframes for granting licenses, and measures to facilitate the construction of affordable housing. It also includes tax incentives and public guarantees to help young people access their first home.
In Santiago, Feijóo has linked these proposals to an idea he has repeated throughout his address: citizens’ effort must find a response in the institutions. "We need a Government that doesn’t rob you and that gives back to the effort that has its back broken to it," he stated.
A Government "without sexism," "without hacks," and without corruption
The other large part of the speech has been devoted to setting out his project against the record of the socialist Executive. Feijóo has promised that, if he reaches the Presidency, there will be no impunity for those who have committed corruption crimes.
"Whoever has stolen will pay, everything will be found out, there will be no impunity. The change is decency," he assured.
He also took aim at the Government’s management in matters of equality and at the failures of the telematic bracelets intended to monitor male abusers. "There will be no sexism in this Government," he promised, before adding that there will also be no "hacks" like those he attributes to Sánchez’s Executive.
The PP leader has extended his criticisms to migration policy, rail management, and the operation of public services. He reproached the president for boasting about the trains, housing, and immigration during his recent interview with Jordi Wild, despite the problems that, according to Feijóo, the country accumulates.
He was especially harsh when referring to infrastructure, after the rail crisis and the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente. "You can’t just announce the works, you have to do them and you have to maintain them. They don’t shine so much, of course not, but they save lives," he warned.
Feijóo has also defended that future ministers will have to know how the Administration works and be able to manage a budget. In his view, experience is an essential condition for governing and political communication skills are not enough.
"Whoever gives up presenting some budgets gives up governing," he has sentenced.
Galicia as a model for change of Government
The choice of Santiago has not been casual. Feijóo wanted to start the campaign in one of the territories where the PP has a more consolidated organization and where he himself built much of his political career.
"This campaign will take me all over Spain, but there was one stop that allowed no discussion," he repeated to those in attendance, to whom he thanked the support he had received during his years in charge of the Xunta.
His speech has revolved around trust and the word given. "The word of a president has to have value," he defended, before recalling that the four absolute majorities he achieved in Galicia were the result of sustained management.
The candidate has used that experience to offer an Executive which, as he has promised, will be "up to the task" for citizens and will respond to their daily needs. Security, housing, public services and an Administration that works have occupied much of his address.
Tellado hardens attacks on Sánchez and Rueda reclaims the Galician PP
Before Feijóo, Miguel Tellado had raised the political tone of the rally with an intervention focused on getting Pedro Sánchez out of La Moncloa. The PP secretary general has presented the elections of 29 November as an opportunity that goes beyond the change in the Executive.
"There are elections that change governments and elections that change a country," he said, convinced that the PP has an opportunity to close the socialist era.
Tellado has contrasted Feijóo's track record, with four absolute majorities in Galicia and a victory in the 2023 general elections, with Sánchez's, whom he has accused of staying in power through concessions to his parliamentary partners.
His speech included personal attacks on the president and on his wife, Begoña Gómez, regarding the judicial investigations that affect his surroundings. He has come to compare the Sánchez family with the Argentine Kirchners, in one of the hardest interventions of the event.
For his part, Alfonso Rueda has claimed the mobilizing capacity of the Galician PP and has asked his members to get involved in the campaign. The president of the Xunta has defended that Galicia must become "the engine of change in Spain" and has accused the central Government of neglecting the needs of the community.
"We don't want tension, we want to work," he said, before calling for an executive that fulfills its commitments to Galicians.
Rueda has also issued a challenge to the PSOE, which is scheduled to hold an event in the same arena next Wednesday. He has invited the socialists to check whether they are capable of gathering as many attendees as the PP.
A call to Venezuela and to mobilization for 29N
One of the moments of greatest intensity of the rally arrived when Feijóo introduced the situation in Venezuela and called for a "Long live free Venezuela!", received with a strong ovation. The popular leader has expressed his support for the Venezuelan opposition and for María Corina Machado, with whom he had spoken by videoconference on November 5.
The international reference has given way to a closing focused on electoral mobilization. Feijóo has asked attendees not to take for granted the result of 29N and to pass on his message to those who are still unsure.
With the Galician organization fully committed to the event and the public chanting his name, the candidate has presented his experience in the Xunta as proof that he can fulfill his promises in the central Government.
"Change is necessary" has been the message that traveled through a rally in which Feijóo has wanted to offer something more than an alternative to Sánchez: the guarantee, according to his own account, of a Government that knows how to manage and that responds to the effort of the Spanish people.