The spokesperson for the PSOE Federal Executive, Montse Mínguez, has rejected that the increase in votes and seats of the socialist candidate in Castilla y León, Carlos Martínez, is due to his distancing from President Pedro Sánchez. “If it had gone badly, he would be a 'sanchista'”, she stated.
Martínez did not support Sánchez in the party's internal processes and maintains his own criteria on key issues such as regional financing or his proposal to allow the most voted list to govern. From the federal leadership of the PSOE, however, they try to lower that debate and emphasize that from Ferraz it is not decided who should be a candidate nor are names vetoed.
Mínguez maintains that, since the elections went “well” for the PSOE, some try to distance themselves from Martínez, assuring that he is not a sanchista, while, if the results had been negative, he would be pigeonholed precisely on the opposite side.
In an appearance before the media at the Ferraz street headquarters, after the meeting of the Federal Executive in which the electoral results have been evaluated, he defends that the PSOE is a “serious” organization in which leaderships are chosen by the membership and each federation. In contrast, he accuses the PP of appointing and dismissing its leaders “by hand-picking”.
Regarding the impact of the national political debate and the slogan of “No to war” during the campaign, he underlines that it is a “clear conviction” of the party and supports Sánchez putting it on the table, as it is a matter of full current relevance that the citizenry talks about. He insists that the president does not control the international context and reproaches the PP for “trivializing” by accusing the Government of using it for electoral purposes.
“Nor that we had chosen him nor that Pedro Sánchez has picked up the phone to ask for there to be a war,” he reproached in the face of the PP's criticism.