The general secretary of the PSOE in Madrid, Óscar López, has launched this Sunday against the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for going to campaign with "the harasser", referring to the mayor of Móstoles, Manuel Bautista, who is being investigated for a alleged case of sexual and workplace harassment denounced by a former PP councilwoman. At the same time, he has insisted on the "obsession" that, in his view, she maintains with the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
López made these criticisms during his speech at a PSOE rally held at the Polideportivo Los Cantos in Alcorcón, where he was accompanied by the mayor, Candelaria Testa, and by the head of the Executive himself.
At the start of his speech, the socialist leader chanted along with the public "Public education" with the goal that "they hear it" from Móstoles, because he believes that Ayuso "doesn't have time to meet with the educators". In the wake of that, he criticized her by saying that "the truth is that she devotes half her time to looking for apartments and penthouses and the other half to insulting Pedro Sánchez".
Along the same lines, he pointed out that what links the Madrid president with Sánchez is "obsession, not love", tying it in with recent statements in which Ayuso said that "Pedro Sánchez is very handsome" and that if he had another appearance "they wouldn't be in these [situation]".
Censors Ayuso's "ideological" rallies
At another point in his speech, López took aim at what he describes as "something new, an ideological rally" by Ayuso. He said it seemed "as if she had read an AI summary, from some self-help book by neoliberals and crypto bros, and then she mixed all these things, from the second chance, the effort and entrepreneurship".
The leader of the PSOE in Madrid focused his criticism on the concept of effort, defending that the one who really makes an effort is "ordinary people so that she can buy a penthouse". He added that "this is the effort that you understand. The culture of effort of ordinary people so that you can go on vacation to the Riviera Maya paid for by I don't know who".
According to López, the true entrepreneurs are not those who sell face masks to the Community of Madrid "like his brother", nor those who "do business" with a health group with which the regional president's partner would have awarded "more than 7,000 million euros".
He has emphasized that "this is not entrepreneurship. This is not a culture of effort. It is what thousands upon thousands of men and women in working-class neighborhoods and in working-class cities like this did so that we could have a career and so that we could get ahead. That is the culture of effort."
Backing public education and scholarships
The secretary of the Madrid socialists has also claimed public education and the public university, underscoring the role of scholarships. In this regard, he has recalled an interview with the PP candidate for President of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in which he acknowledged that "he doesn't know how to speak English."
"He says, look, do you believe that to be president of the Government you have to speak English? He says, of course. He says, look, do you speak English? He says, no, no...", López has joked, to go on to stress that Feijóo "has not had time" to study English in the three and a half years he has been in the opposition.
He has also defended that "it is not the same to receive 735 as 1,300 of the minimum wage," nor is it "that they freeze your pension as opposed to raising you 400 euros as the Government of Sánchez has done."
On equality, he has underscored that "it's not the same those who deny gender-based violence, as those of us who defend real equality between women and men. It's not the same. It's not the same, no. It's the opposite."
"The vote matters" and two models in Madrid
In the final stretch of his speech, López has insisted that the vote "matters" and has proposed that in Madrid there are two ballot papers: that of the PP and Vox, "if you think that's enough of so much feminism," and that of Pedro Sánchez and the Partido Socialista "to defend women."
He has argued that the socialist ballot paper also serves to "defend the right to housing," as opposed to the PP and Vox ballot, which, in his view, "don't think anything needs to be done" in this area, nor in citizens' rights or social justice.
"For peace, for the fight against climate change, or for the rights of migrant people, for all of that, an example of this country is Pedro Sánchez," he concluded.
Testa promises to "throw" Manuel Bautista out of the polls
The mayor of Alcorcón, Candelaria Testa, who opened the event, also directed her criticisms at the mayor of Móstoles and assured that they are going to "throw him out of the polls" because, in her view, the neighbors have an "unworthy" mayor.
"We’re going to throw Manuel Bautista out of the ballot boxes; if he doesn’t throw out the PP, we’re going to throw them out because we have a country of equality and freedom," the councilor has defended.
Testa has praised the Executive of Pedro Sánchez, which he considers "the most municipalist of all," and has contrasted this attitude with that of Ayuso, whom he has said has promised "to build Madrid Metro Line 10." As he has denounced, "that is done with a budget and she has only painted with that little lie 50,000 euros in the 27 budget."
Instead, he has held up as an example former Minister of Transport Óscar Puente, whom he has backed for having invested 1,130 million euros in Renfe’s C5, "the line of the workers, the line that moves the most people in the Community of Madrid, Móstoles, Alcorcón, Madrid, Leganés, Fuenlabrada."
As for housing, the mayor has recalled the 6,000 public homes for young people that were drawn by lot in the same pavilion where the rally is held. Likewise, she has announced that starting this year, 22,230 homes will be drawn by lot so that young people "don’t leave" Alcorcón.
She has also looked back to 2019, when "her first measure" was "to prevent the eviction" of 90 families of octogenarians because, as she indicated, "the Partido Popular was going to put them on the street" and now they live in Ensanche Sur.
In this context, she has addressed Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to remind him that "yes, it can be done" and, therefore, he could have "avoided Maricarmen’s eviction."
"That our homeland is where our children are born. And my daughter was born in Alcorcón and I want all the towns in Spain to have education, with healthcare, with dependency support, with pensions, and with housing. We’re going to win with V for Victory, with V for Housing and with Óscar López inside of nothing as president of the Community of Madrid!" she has asserted.