The president of the Community of Madrid and leader of the PP in the region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has accused the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, of trying to alter the electoral rules by resorting to "all the tricks he can," and has reiterated her suspicions about voting by mail.
"Sánchez is going to try to do all the tricks he can," Ayuso asserted during a pre-campaign event at Ifema, where she was accompanied by the national president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
The Madrid leader has reproached those who consider her warnings excessive, because, in her view, they do not perceive the dangers that, in her opinion, threaten Spanish democracy. "What else has to happen?" Ayuso questioned, calling on citizens to "open their eyes."
Regarding these supposed "tricks," Ayuso recalled the general elections of 2023, held on a date "chosen treacherously" and in which, she pointed out, there were people "who did not receive their vote or received it late." Thus, she has once again expressed her suspicions about voting by mail, a mechanism she requested to avoid from the moment the call was announced.
To these doubts about the cleanliness of the electoral process, she has added her criticisms of the "massive" regularization of migrants and the so-called grandchild law, measures with which she believes Sánchez has made clear his "unusual haste to inflate the rolls."
In another part of her speech, Ayuso responded to Más Madrid's warnings that "there will be no peace in the streets of Madrid," and took the opportunity to contrast that scenario with the model of coexistence she defends for Spain. Thus, she accused the left of aspiring to impose "the peace of the cemeteries," against her idea of a city "overflowing, full of joy, concerts, theaters, shows, investments, and opportunities."
The Madrid president has emphasized that the PP will demonstrate at the polls that it bets on "harmony, plurality," but without "submitting to anyone," and has rejected "the coups d'état in the streets," the scrums, and the boycotts of major events, like what happened in La Vuelta a España last year.
In this line, he has maintained that "that is the Spain that is going to go down the drain on November 29 with Pedro Sánchez," referring to the climate of confrontation and chaos that he attributes to the Executive and its partners. "We are not the ones of violence," he has emphasized, before stating that Spaniards do not allow themselves to be subjected "neither to pressures, nor to threats, nor to the street violence of four cowards."
Accusations about the separation of powers
During his speech, Ayuso has also denounced a supposed deterioration of the separation of powers, accusing the coalition Government of using the State institutions for its own benefit and directing them against its political adversaries, as well as against businessmen, journalists, or figures from the cultural sphere who disagree with its postulates.
At this point, he has accused the president of the Government of having "dynamited the separation of powers," making a "dictatorial" use of the Constitutional Court against the Supreme Court to come out favored in possible corruption cases that affect his environment, in addition to using the Tax Agency in a partisan manner.
"It is state mafia. The mafia governs us," he has exclaimed from the stage, denouncing pressures against magistrates, officials, journalists, businessmen, university rectors, and cultural personalities. "Either you are one of theirs, or they are going to pursue you. They are going to enter your house, they are going to dismantle you, and, of course, they are never going to give you an award," he has asserted.
Ayuso has defended the democratic values of Spain, but has cited examples such as Venezuela or Cuba, where, he has recalled, the dictatorial regimes arrived "through the ballot boxes." "What else has to happen for us to open our eyes and these lukewarm people to stop pointing fingers and really focus on what we have in front of us?" he has asked.
For this reason, the leader of the Madrid 'populars' has appealed for the vote for Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the upcoming general elections, with the aim of recovering "legal security, constitutional order, and sacred respect for the laws."
Against the "stale populism" of the Executive, which he accuses of legislating on housing to attract young people, reducing the working hours of officials, and focusing on pensions to ensure the support of retirees, Ayuso has claimed a Government of Feijóo for a Spain "plural, united, prosperous, and respected in the world."