The PP and Vox pact is inevitable for Carlos Mazón to be president of the Generalitat Valenciana. The arithmetic after the results of 28-M does not allow room for maneuver to the popular Valencians who obtained 40 seats; the PSPV achieved 31, Compromís 15 and Vox 13, with an absolute majority of 50. The announcement by the PSPV and Compromís that they will not abstain and vote against the popular candidate in the investiture debate forces the PP to establish an agreement with Vox that allow him to reach the presidency of the Generalitat and, in parallel, stability during the legislature.
The solution will not be easy. The Valencian PP has repeatedly expressed its willingness to govern alone, but this is not the scenario posed by Vox, a formation that maintains a strict secrecy about its objectives for the Valencian legislature. In addition, Genoa, in the mouth of Borja Sémper, yesterday showed his rejection of the Valencian Vox candidate, Carlos Flores, convicted in 2002 of psychological violence against his wife, becoming part of the equation. “In this case of sexist violence, it is a red line for the PP,” warned Sémper. He added, in a clear message to Vox, that a convicted person “should not engage in the active exercise of politics.”
This is not what the popular Valencians said yesterday, who made it clear, when asked by Carlos Flores, that they were not going to veto anyone. This was stated by his vice-secretary for Organization, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca after receiving the ‘no’ from Compromís in the negotiations prior to the investiture. The PP negotiators also stressed that they were not going to carry out any “sanitary cordon” against any political force, as Compromís demanded to delimit Vox in the Valencian Parliament. In parallel, Vox has reiterated in Valencia its willingness to reach an agreement and to have “an outstretched hand.”
What the national leadership of the PP does not want is that Carlos Flores can form part of the Valencian executive, according to sources in Genoa. A few weeks before the 23J elections, Alberto Núñez Feijóo does not want it to be announced that his party has agreed in the Valencian Community on a government that will include a person convicted of psychological violence. And Sémper’s message worked yesterday as a “veto” for the Vox candidate; in other words, Genoa asks for Flores’ head to close a general agreement. The Valencian case thus becomes the main stumbling block for a general agreement between the PP and Vox in Spain.
Carlos Mazón will meet today with Carlos Flores in the Valencian Courts to open conversations between the two potential partners. It will be the first official meeting between both formations. On the table there will be various topics, from the composition of the Board of the Valencian Courts to possible agreements for the investiture. Mazón has already done it with the PSPV and Compromís, and in both cases forceful opposition to his election as president has been found. Now everything depends on the agreement that he reaches with Vox and how the pressure from Genoa against Flores is going to be resolved.
Vox does not seem to be willing to give in. Just yesterday, and after knowing Sémper’s words, the general secretary of Vox, Ignacio Garriga, warned that their pulse will not tremble in their negotiations with the PP. Thus, according to party sources warn, the lack of agreements in some autonomy could end up leading to electoral repetition, informs Joaquín Vera.
