Catalonia dug the ditch that prevented Alberto Núñez Feijóo from being president of the central government on 23-J. The results of the PSC, with 19 seats, seven more than in 2019, were decisive in tipping the scales in favor of Pedro Sanchez Then the convoluted parliamentary arithmetic would lead the socialists to Moncloa. Almost a year later Feijóo is playing it again in Catalonia and hence the reservations when it comes to choosing a candidate who fits the intense struggle that will be experienced on 12-M and which, without a doubt, will have repercussions on a national scale.
In the end, Feijóo opted for the continuationist option of Alejandro Fernández, despite the fact that the president of the popular Catalans had spoken out in harsh words against the approach of the PP to Junts to negotiate a possible investiture. Faced with the confirmation of the talks with the post-convergents, Fernández urged the leader of his party to act “without tutelage” or “hesitation” and not to grant “more benefits to the insatiable nationalist bourgeoisie that has everything, and the constitutionalists, nothing. They want to sell us as currency. We have the right to the rebequeria and it will be big. We will not be silent”. In fact, he did not remain silent and in Génova they saw these statements as disloyalty and an affront to Feijóo.
In Catalonia, the election of the head of the list has been postponed to the PP for years. Génova should have already made a decision about Fernández’s future at the time of Pablo Casado and Teodoro García Egea, who never maintained a good relationship with the Catalan leader. When Feijóo became party president, the Catalan regional congress was also postponed, until the advance of the 12-M election ended up precipitating everything.
It took time to confirm Fernández and he was not without pressure within the party who did not consider him to be the best candidate. In the third round and with options there has always been the councilor of the Ajuntament Daniel Sirera and the MEP Dolors Montserrat, the favorite for some positions in the formation.
With the election of Fernández, Feijóo is betting on the hardest theses against independence. The “the worse, the better” can also work in the popular ranks that distance themselves from a possible understanding with Junts. Feijóo should consider that to reach Moncloa it is also necessary to win in Catalonia and offer a project for Catalans who do not feel concerned by independence, but also not with the harshest theses of political polarization.
