The resignation of Francisco Martín as delegate of the Government in the Community of Madrid has opened a new political front in Ferraz just over a month before the general elections of November 29. Martín announced his departure on Sunday, after being left off the socialist lists for Congress and the Senate. The decision has provoked criticism within the party for the timing chosen and has given arguments to his political adversaries, who link his departure to the conflicts that have marked his time at the head of the Delegation.
Martín alleged that "the conditions to continue exercising his responsibility are not met," according to sources from the Government Delegation. The leader had held the position since March 2023, when he replaced Mercedes González, and his departure comes after a week marked by the confirmation of the PSOE candidacies for the 29-N.
Puente regrets his departure and points to other reasons
The first significant reaction from the Government came this Monday from the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who lamented the resignation, although he questioned that it occurs in the midst of the electoral pre-campaign. In his opinion, the decision does not benefit either Martín himself or the PSOE.
In Óscar Puente's view, the decision does not benefit either Martín or the PSOE
"We must be attentive to what the organization decides at each moment, we cannot get angry when they do not count on us and be happy when they do," Puente stated during an informative breakfast of Nueva Economía. The minister recalled that socialist positions are subject to the party's decisions and defended that they must accept them even if they do not personally favor them.
Puente, who has assured that he maintains an "extraordinary" relationship with Martín, added that he suspects there may be "other reasons" behind his resignation, beyond his exclusion from the electoral lists. He also revealed that the now former delegate called him to inform him that he was going to announce his decision.
The Government spokesperson and Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, Elma Saiz, has chosen to distance herself from the reasons for the departure. In an interview on Cadena SER, she described the resignation as a "personal decision" and stated that "everyone has to take responsibility for their personal decisions."
Saiz has avoided entering into the internal circumstances that have surrounded the departure and has defended that the PSOE is focused on an electoral appointment that it considers decisive, with the aim of expanding the progressive majority.
The lists and the primaries, in the background
The exclusion of Martín from the socialist candidacies is the immediate trigger for his departure. The process of preparing the lists closed without the delegate obtaining a position for the general elections on November 29, a decision that has fueled speculation about his political future.
In that context, the internal dispute for the socialist candidacy for the Mayor of Madrid has also regained relevance. Last July, Martín supported Enma López against Reyes Maroto in the municipal primaries, which the latter ended up winning. The temporal coincidence has led to linking both episodes, although there is no public confirmation that the result of those primaries directly explains his resignation.
Martín supported Enma López against Reyes Maroto in the municipal primaries, which the latter ended up winning
Martín arrived at the Delegation from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Government, after having held various technical positions in Moncloa. During his three years in office, he acquired a markedly political profile, with frequent confrontations with the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and with the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who have missed the opportunity to poke the wound.
Ayuso and Almeida, against his management
The departure of the delegate comes, moreover, after several weeks of institutional tension due to the protest camp for the right to housing set up in Puerta del Sol since September 26. The decision not to evict it provoked reproaches from the City Council and the regional Government, who accused Martín of allowing the situation to prolong.
Ayuso celebrated his departure and described Martín as "the worst delegate" that Madrid has had, framing his exit in the wear and tear of Pedro Sánchez's Government. The regional president had been demanding a more forceful action regarding the camp and questioning the management of the Delegation.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has criticized this Monday the reasons for the resignation and has stated that Francisco Martín leaves the position because the PSOE has not reserved a place for him in the candidacies for the elections on November 29.
"No one is going to miss him, not even his party, because it seems that he is leaving because, according to him, his party has not treated him as he deserves," Almeida has stated. The mayor has insisted that Martín was acting as "delegate of the sanchismo" and not as an institutional representative of the Government.
"One cannot resign for a party issue. You are the Government delegate, you are not the delegate of the Socialist Party," he reproached. Almeida believes that the delegate should have left the position due to his management and not for being left out of the electoral lists.
The mayor has linked this criticism to several episodes of his mandate, including the incidents recorded during the passage of the Vuelta Ciclista through Madrid and the protest camp set up in Puerta del Sol. He has also questioned the response of the Delegation to the security problems associated with that settlement and has accused Martín of using the position to confront the City Council and the regional Government.
Almeida has gone further by stating that the former delegate leaves "thrown aside" the bodies and security forces of the State at a delicate moment. His statements add to the criticisms from the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who also celebrated the departure and lashed out at Martín's management.
The crisis of the Sol camp has thus become one of the last episodes of a stage marked by the clash between the Government Delegation and the Madrid administrations. Martín's departure does not alone close the discrepancies over the management of the protest nor the responsibilities that each institution attributes to the others.
JUPOL celebrates the resignation and reproaches its treatment of the Police
The police union JUPOL has also spoken out, valuing the resignation "positively" and accusing the former delegate of using the National Police "as a shield" when it suited him and abandoning it when criticism arrived.
The union had been demanding his departure for some time and has placed the last disagreement on the police charges recorded on October 14 during a protest linked to the educational strike at the Complutense University. Martín then requested an urgent investigation considering that the images of the intervention required clarifications and that the action may not have been proportionate.
Martín's departure now leaves the leadership of the Government Delegation pending, in a period marked by mobilization at Puerta del Sol and the preparation for the general elections. The decision also leaves an open question within the PSOE: whether the resignation responds solely to his exclusion from the lists or if, as Puente has suggested, there are other factors that have not yet come to light.