The newly elected general secretary of the PSOE of Extremadura, Álvaro Sánchez Cotrina, has announced this Monday his intention to design a "small" Regional Executive Commission, still not finalized, in which he wants to integrate the other candidate in the primaries, Soraya Vega, "if she wants to."
Sánchez Cotrina has expressed himself thus in an interview on Canal Extremadura Radio, collected by Europa Press, after prevailing in the internal process held last Saturday, in which he obtained 58.95 percent of the votes of the membership against 41.05 percent garnered by Soraya Vega.
During his speech, he stressed that he does not intend to rush into the configuration of the new Executive, because, as he reiterated, "there is a lot of talent in many parts of the organization." Therefore, he aims to incorporate people who "have been working silently for many years, doing things very well and being a reference for anonymous people."
He has insisted that "I want those anonymous people to also be part of the new leadership of the PSOE so that it is a flesh and blood leadership," made up of profiles that "want to take a long time to cross the streets of the towns and the squares of our cities because that will say a lot about us, it will say that there are people who want to stop us to tell us their problems," something that for him represents "the politics of small things that Guillermo Fernández Vara talked about."
Asked expressly about Soraya Vega's role in the future regional leadership, the new socialist leader has reiterated that "if she wants, yes" she will be on the Regional Executive Committee of the PSOE of Extremadura.
An integrative project with all the sensibilities
As for the three pre-candidates who initially presented themselves for the primaries, Blanca Martín, Ramón Díaz Farias and Manuel González Andrade, Sánchez Cotrina has explained that he has spoken with them in recent days and has assured that he will not "have any problem integrating any of the pre-candidates who have been and have formed part of the current political project of the PSOE".
In this regard, he/she has remarked that the final composition "will be a decision I make together with them," since his/her goal is to form "a cooperative, collaborative and choral team" in which the different candidacies and sensibilities of the party "are present in the new executive."
"I work very well with everyone," insisted the secretary general-elect, who has defended the need to "be a leader who trusts," because, in his opinion, "the word trust has to be what ultimately is the driving force of all the decisions we make from today onwards."
In the same vein, he has reiterated that he does not feel "fear of changing things in the PSOE", since his priority is "to change things on the street, things in Extremadura that I don't like, that are wrong at this moment", where, he has denounced, there is "brutal political instability, a polarization that is already starting to cause harm in the streets of our towns" and that he wants to combat.
"I come for that, for the politics of small things, but also for that which wants us to try once and for all to prioritize the things that unite us over those that separate us," Sánchez Cotrina reiterated, who has acknowledged that what will cost him the most in this new stage will be leaving the mayoralty of Salorino.
Results of the primaries and call for unity
Upon analyzing the outcome of the primaries, he has confessed that "he had the confidence of being able to win," although he was surprised by "this such a large difference and favorable result" for his candidacy, especially "in some groups where he thought things were going to go well and they have gone better than expected."
He explained that, during the internal campaign, "he felt the affection of the people", and has shown his "pleasant surprise" by the support obtained, a support that he now proposes "to return it to each and every one of them with work, work and more work".
Looking ahead to the coming days, he has announced that his first task will be to contact the socialist groups in which he was not the winner, because he considers that "it is fundamental to gain and recover the trust of people who, regardless of having been with the other colleague in this process," must now feel part of a common project. In his opinion, it is key that the PSOE "either unites or we will not be able to be authorized voices for the citizens out there."
Therefore, his immediate priority will be "to contact each and every one" of the militants who supported Soraya Vega, with the aim that they see him as a "figure of unity" and to "from now on be the reference of the street."
In the interview, Sánchez Cotrina has indicated that, after his election as general secretary of the Extremaduran PSOE, he is "calming down a bit the intensity of the last few days", although he feels "very happy, very satisfied, very pleased to be able to deeply transform this party from within to be able to connect it with Extremaduran society".
Finally, he has stressed that the PSOE of Extremadura "wants to continue giving reasons to people to trust" in this party, with the goal of "being able to continue making this land something greater".