The federal PSOE general deputy secretary and head of Strategy for Pedro Sánchez’s campaign, María Jesús Montero, has forecast this Thursday that her party is going to "win" the general elections of 29 November and that it will improve the results obtained in the 2023 elections, which would allow it to continue in Government. However, she has acknowledged that the serious rail disaster in Urda (Toledo) from last week "affects" the electoral campaign that the party had prepared.
She has laid out these reflections in an information meeting organized by Cadena SER in Seville, where she is also secretary general of the PSOE-A, and where she has avoided specifying how many seats she expects her party to achieve in the upcoming general elections, although she has insisted that "it is going to improve the results compared with those it had".
In that context, she has defended that the PSOE must prevail with "sufficient of a margin" that grants it "parliamentary capacity to be able to solve once and for all the housing problem in this country". To do so, she has appealed for massive participation on 29 November, demanding that "nobody stays at home on 29 November" and that "everyone goes to the polls" in a day in which, as she has stressed, "we are betting whether this country continues moving forward, promoting coexistence, respect in political life, or whether we get subscribed to what the PP is permanently doing, hatred between people, political violence" and the "dehumanization it carries out with political opponents".
After emphasizing that to Andalusia the "progress policies" of the socialist governments "have sat very well", Montero has argued that the PSOE, "as always" that "goes onto the playing field of the elections", faces the 29 November appointment with the aim of "securing the greatest possible support from citizens" and with the determination to go out "to win".
She has stressed that "it’s not only about mobilizing citizens", but rather "about winning the elections, and winning in order to be able to govern". At this point, the 'number two' of the federal leadership has said that she wants "the left of the Partido Socialista to do very well", because "it is necessary to form a progressive Government that will make it possible to drive forward policies that are very necessary for this country".
In the same line, he has argued that “if Andalusia wants to continue along a path of development, of innovation, of growth, it has to make it possible for there to be a government, headed by the president (Pedro) Sánchez in Spain, that allows us to continue with this job creation and giving opportunities to young people.”
Likewise, Montero has backed the pact between the PSOE and the Frente Amplio to run with joint lists for the Senate in the elections of 29N, describing the decision as a “valiant” initiative. She has considered that both forces “are interested” in having both the Congress of Deputies and the Upper House “work in a complementary way” so that the laws that are approved “mean progress” and investments and “no retreat.”
The Urda accident “has changed the campaign”
On the other hand, Montero has admitted that the rail disaster that occurred in Urda (Toledo) last week, in which 69 people died, “has changed, as cannot be otherwise, not only for society,” but also the campaign that the PSOE had started “with a lot of hope” and “joy.”
The Andalusian socialist leader has stressed that her party has been criticized because they “dance” or “kiss” at events, and she has defended that “left-wing, progress people, we are people who like to touch, to rub up against,” to whom she “likes that physical contact” and having a good time, so they leave the role of “sad cynics” to “the right.”
Montero has emphasized that a disaster like the one in Urda, with 69 fatalities, “of course” “impacts a campaign,” and for that reason she has stated that the PSOE has modified “a little the strategy, the format” of its events from now until 29N, although not “the contents.”
“Everything else: we strengthen ourselves and we reaffirm that it is more necessary than ever to have quality public services” and “a fair tax system that allows investment in our rail network,” she has maintained, recalling that “in the last few years about 800 million euros has been invested” in that infrastructure. Despite this, accidents in Adamuz (Córdoba) and Urda have been recorded this year, so “we have to keep investing and reviewing” the “safety protocols” of the tracks, she added.
Consequently, she has advanced that the PSOE will vary “a little” the staging in “public events, because at this moment we are going through” a “feeling of sadness” after the train collision.
She predicts “a very large” turnout on 29N
The PSOE general deputy secretary has predicted that in the general election on November 29 there will be "a very high turnout". In the event of a defeat for the PP led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, she has suggested that the 'popular' leader could be forced to leave office and hand over the reins to another leader, asking "who is the one thinking about packing a suitcase for Madrid".
"Maybe" it "is he, Mr. Moreno Bonilla," Montero has hinted, referring to the president of the Junta and of the PP of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno.