Armengol says goodbye to Balearic politics: "I do it out of responsibility"

PalmaThe President of the Congress and Secretary General of the PSIB-PSOE, Francina Armengol, announced this Saturday, at a party event in Palma, that she will not run in the primaries to lead the socialist candidacy in the 2027 regional elections. "I am doing this out of enormous responsibility in the moment we are living. I believe it is for the best at this time," she assured.

Despite stepping aside in the race for the presidency of the Government, Armengol defended the socialist project and expressed her conviction that the party will regain the Consolat de Mar. "It is a decision we make with strength, with desire, with utopia, and with dreams. In 2027 we will govern this autonomous community again," she stated. She also argued that "elections are won by spreading enthusiasm" and presenting "serious and rigorous proposals, with serious and reliable people".

The socialist leader also explained that she is willing to be part of the candidacy for the Congress of Deputies if the party decides so when Pedro Sánchez calls the next general elections, also scheduled for 2027.

Armengol was president of the Balearic Government for two consecutive legislatures, between 2015 and 2023, she has held the general secretariat of the PSIB since 2012 — a position she will maintain — and has been president of Congress since 2023.

The primaries begin in July

One year before the regional elections, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, appears as one of the main favorites to replace her at the head of the candidacy, although the name of the leader of the PSIB in Mallorca, Amanda Fernández, is also gaining strength. The decision will be in the hands of the militants during the primary process that will open in July.

Armengol has detailed that next Saturday, June 27, the Federal Committee of the PSOE will approve the primary calendar and that the PSIB will activate it immediately. "The militants will decide, as always, who will lead the Socialist Party's candidacy for the presidency of the Balearic Islands," she emphasized.

The first processes will serve to elect candidates for the Government, the four island councils, and the main municipalities of the archipelago. Subsequently, it will be the turn of the rest of the municipalities and the candidacy for the general elections.

During her speech, Armengol also claimed the sixteen years of Pacte de Progrés governments, highlighting advances in health, education, the implementation of the ecotax, the protection of the territory, and free public transport. In contrast, she lashed out at Marga Prohens' Executive, accusing them of having allowed health waiting lists to grow, of having contributed to the increase in rent, and of having "amnestiated illegal urban planning." She also criticized that PP deputies in Congress vote against the increase in the minimum wage and pensions.

"The only thing the PP does well is lie"

"The PP is playing with our present and our future," she warned. According to the socialist leader, "the only thing the PP does well is lie" and she assured that "the PP's model is Vicent Marí, the only person from these islands who has to go to trial for corruption." "The PP doesn't need Vox to do barbarities," she concluded, before encouraging the militants to maintain "strength, conviction, ideas, and hope."

The socialist leader contrasted the balance of the sixteen years of government of the Pacte de Progrés – health, education, the ecotax, the protection of the territory, and the free public transport – with the management of the current PP Government. She reproached Marga Prohens' executive for having allowed health waiting lists to grow, the rental price to skyrocket, and illegal urban planning to be amnestied, while PP deputies in Madrid vote against raising the minimum wage and pensions.