The national spokesperson for the PP, Borja Sémper, has stated this Wednesday that he maintains the “ambition” that the Partido Popular “surpasses the best of the polls” and achieves on November 29 a “broad enough” majority to “form a Government with ministers appointed only by Alberto Núñez Feijóo”.
During an information meeting organized by “Artículo 14”, Sémper recalled that in the 2023 general election he learned that “one can trust the polls only so much”, although he has admitted that they “draw a trend” and that, at this moment, they place the PP as the force that “continues to be the majority option for Spaniards”.
“All political parties would like to have the result that those polls predict for the Partido Popular,” he said, stressing that the polls reflect “a change”. From now until November 29, he added, the “objective” is to ensure that “more and more Spaniards join that change” which, in his view, is embodied by Feijóo’s PP.
In this vein, he insisted that there is “an ambition” that he does not intend to give up: that the Partido Popular “still surpasses the best of the polls that predict its victory” before the date at the ballot boxes. “And I think it’s possible,” he concluded.
Relationship with Vox and possible agreements
Asked whether the PP is considering governing alone or assumes it will have to reach an agreement with Vox, Sémper reiterated that the main goal continues to be a single-party executive. He stressed that the PP not only intends to win the general elections, but also to offer citizens a solid alternative for government.
In his view, “the best political party in Spain is the PP”, despite being aware of its “imperfections and its shortfalls”. He defended that the Partido Popular “was founded for a moment like this, to face a challenge like the one that Spain has”, and he underscored that this is “probably the most important elections that Spaniards face since the transition”.
He warned, however, that the PP “cannot be condemned to govern only when it wins an absolute majority” because that would be “deeply unfair and democratically asymmetrical”. Therefore, he stressed that the party is willing to reach understandings with Vox “within a negotiating framework with clear perimeters and with absolutely clear limits, which are the ones we have implemented in the autonomous communities and which, if we have to do it tomorrow in the Government of the Nation, then it will continue to operate”.
In any case, he has reiterated his "ambition" that on November 29 the Partido Popular "may obtain a majority broad enough to be able to form a Government with ministers appointed only by Alberto Núñez Feijóo".
Sémper has acknowledged that he maintains with Santiago Abascal "a friendship bombproof", despite the fact that their trajectories have followed different directions and today they defend different projects. "I will always have an affective bond with him for what we lived through when we were just kids", he said, recalling his time in Basque politics when ETA was still active.
Exceptional decision in Guipúzcoa and a majority in the Senate
Regarding the PP's lack of a Senate candidacy in Guipúzcoa, his province, he has admitted that he would have liked the party to compete in all constituencies, but he said that he understands "the why of things", which he "defends" and "justifies" to voters.
He has explained that it is an "exceptional decision" in a political context which, in his view, made it necessary. "Not to present ourselves in a province like Guipúzcoa is a necessary sacrifice at a historical moment in which we understand that this sacrifice is by virtue of a greater objective, which is to guarantee a majority in the Senate, which will also allow us to guarantee the change and the reforms necessary in Spain", he said, recalling that the Guipúzcoa electorate "can vote for the PP" on the lists for the Congress.
As for the electoral debates, the PP's national spokesperson has advanced that there will be a face-to-face between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo and he added: "I think Feijóo is not going to renounce any of the debates in which he is called to take part".
First measures and criticisms of the Government's management
Sémper has detailed some of the first decisions that, according to him, an eventual Feijóo Government would promote: an "effective and real" housing plan, the deindexation of the IRPF, and a package of institutional reforms. "This is over with meddling with public institutions", he emphasized.
The popular leader has also defended the need to maintain and improve rail infrastructure. "We are at levels of tax collection unprecedented in the history of Spain with a provision of services that is abysmal", he denounced.
It has also branded as “unacceptable” that the President of the Government did not attend the State funeral for the victims of the train accident in Urda (Toledo) and has argued that Spain “deserves a President of the Government who goes to that funeral.” “Not having been there defines who did not attend,” he added.
A week after Óscar Puente’s resignation as Minister of Transport, Sémper has confessed that he would never have “imagined crowds of people cheering and turning into a martyr” the “political official responsible” for the deterioration of infrastructure in Spain.
“Cheering and applauding the political official of the Ministry of Transport seems to me a reflection of the times and another of the reasons too, because politics must change,” he concluded.