The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has visited the Basque Country again to support his candidate for lehendakari, Javier de Andrés, and has insisted on the idea that, “with a PSOE gone and a PNV in decline”, his party is the only alternative to EH Bildu. “Many parties are presented, but there are only two options: secessionism in its different versions or the responsibility and constitutional autonomy of the PP,” he indicated.
In a crowded event at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Feijóo did not spare his criticism of the PNV and the PSOE, while seeking to alert Basque society to the possibility that EH Bildu could govern. The popular leader has also drawn a picture of a Euskadi “that has lost the leadership it had”, that “expels industrial companies”, that “puts ideological objectives first in public employment”, or that “loses positions in reading comprehension, in Education”.
In the opinion of the popular leader, “the PSOE and the PNV have lost their personality, and are in decline.” “Either Bildu picks up this decline or the PP picks it up. Javier de Andrés is “the only one who guarantees a Government without ideological radicalism,” he has warned.
Along these lines, Feijóo has insisted that “there are no differences between the PNV and the PSE with respect to EH Bildu.” “They vote the same in Congress,” he indicated, while he stressed that the jeltzales “are blending in at Bildu.”
The president of the PP has appealed to the vote of the 133,000 Basques who gave him their support in the last general elections, more than double that of those who voted for the popular ones in the 2020 Basque Parliament elections, in coalition with Ciudadanos, aware that this volume of support, linked to the dual vote, would place the Basque PP in another position.
Most of the surveys place the popular party with between 6 and 7 seats, in a position similar to the one they achieved four years ago, thanks to Ciudadanos (6 parliamentarians, in what has been their worst historical record to date The Popular Party, however, above all yearns for a scenario in which their votes could be decisive, something that would happen if the PNV and the PSE do not reach the absolute majority (38 seats).
The latest ETB Focus survey places them on the edge, estimating 26-27 seats for the PNV and 10-12 for the PSE (the same survey gives EH Bildu 28-29), hence Feijóo appealed this Sunday to “ concentrate votes” and ensure that the popular ones are “decisive”.
