The Popular Party has congratulated this Monday the Day of Hispanity with a video on its social networks in which it places the daily effort of citizens at the center of its message. "Spain is in the hands of those who strive," states the formation, a phrase with which the popular party again links the idea of country with work, sacrifice, and individual responsibility precisely on the day of the National Day of Spain.
The message also arrives in the midst of the pre-campaign for the general elections on November 29 and barely a day after the PP launched one of the lines with which it intends to contest the vote of workers, self-employed, families, and middle classes. On Sunday, Alberto Núñez Feijóo released a spot featuring everyday scenes of people opening their businesses, studying, or taking their children to school, which ended with a promise: "Spain, your effort will be worth it". The PP itself summarized the piece appealing to "the one of sacrifice, the one of effort, the one of hope."
Effort as a message for October 12
The congratulation this Monday maintains that same line, but transfers it to the symbolic terrain of the Day of Hispanity. Against a message focused solely on institutions, the flag, or the Armed Forces, the PP focuses on the people who, according to its approach, sustain Spain with their daily work. The phrase "Spain is in the hands of those who strive" thus serves as a congratulation for the National Day and, at the same time, as a continuation of the electoral narrative launched over the weekend.
On October 12, the Day of the National Day of Spain is officially celebrated and has its main institutional act in Madrid, with the traditional military parade, the tribute to the flag, and the remembrance of the fallen. This year, the parade begins at 11:00 hours and travels the axis between the roundabout of Carlos V, the Paseo del Prado, Cibeles, Recoletos, and Colón.
The PP has traditionally taken advantage of this date to claim national unity and shared symbols, but the proximity of the elections gives this year's message an added reading. The party arrives at October 12 after presenting concepts such as "order, security, and prosperity" in recent days, which appear among the main axes of its pre-campaign. In another of the videos released on Sunday, the party summarized that strategy with the phrase "Three words. One decision," before asking to "defend Spain" ahead of November 29.
The first campaign spot: workers, families, and self-employed
The appeal to effort began to take shape on Sunday with a video in which the PP sought to distance itself for a few minutes from the direct confrontation with the PSOE and focus its message on recognizable scenes of daily life. There appear people who start their workday early, merchants who raise their shutters, students and parents who take their children to school, before closing with the phrase "Spain, your effort will be worth it."
With that spot, the popular party aims to reinforce its reach to an electorate that has not always constituted its most natural space: salaried workers and middle-income voters who have traditionally leaned towards leftist options. The strategy consists of presenting the PP as the party that recognizes the economic and personal sacrifice of those who work, maintain a business, or raise a family, and promising that this effort will have a political and economic reward if Feijóo reaches La Moncloa.
The campaign was also born after a phrase spoken by Feijóo himself in Madrid. "I promise you a Government that asks for sacrifice. But it will not ask you to applaud it," affirmed the popular leader during an event alongside party leaders and former presidents. The expression provoked criticism from the PSOE, while the PP later defended that it was not announcing cuts, but rather claiming the sacrifice that citizens already make to maintain their projects and get ahead.
From "your effort will be worth it" to "Spain is in your hands"
The video published by the PP on the occasion of October 12 extends that idea. The party no longer speaks solely of effort receiving a reward, but presents those people as literally having Spain "in their hands". The message seeks to unite patriotism and everyday life: Spain does not appear only as an institutional or territorial structure, but as the result of millions of people who work and strive every day.
The choice of the Day of Hispanicity to reinforce that narrative is not casual. In the midst of the pre-campaign, the PP is trying to build around Feijóo a discourse of "national reconstruction" in which it mixes economy, security, institutions, and national pride. Last Friday, the popular president called for opening "a new time" to rebuild institutions, the economy, public services, and future expectations, and presented November 29 as an opportunity for a change of government.
That message will coexist this Monday with the institutional acts of the National Holiday and with the congratulations from other political forces. The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, has also published his own video for October 12, in his case focused on the diversity of ways to live Spain and on rights such as healthcare, education, housing, or freedom.
A Hispanicity already marked by November 29
The celebration of 2026 thus inevitably arrives intertwined with the electoral advance. Less than two months from the polls, the major parties are using the October 12 to project their own idea of Spain and connect the National Holiday with their campaign priorities.
In the case of the PP, the chosen formula directly links to the message launched just 24 hours earlier: effort, sacrifice, and hope. "Spain is in the hands of those who strive," the party now summarizes. A congratulation for the Day of Hispanicity that, in the midst of the race towards November 29, also serves as an electoral statement of intentions.