The PP maintains absolute majority in Galicia and saves Feijóo's leadership

MadridOur day will come, could be read on Saturday in the animation stand of the Balaídos stadium in the match between Celta and Barça. With dozens of flags match ball that could have put him on the ropes in the leadership of the PP.

Galicia has turned out to vote in an autonomous election as it had not done for a long time. Participation has been record-breaking, around 67%, and contrary to what progressive forces predicted, it has not served to tip the balance to the other side. Their main message has been to assure the left-wing electorate to abandon abstentionism, that this time it was possible to dislodge the PP from the Xunta. However, there has not been as much mobilization as in the general elections –it was 73.1%– and, in any case, it has not harmed the PP. In fact, with 47.4%, Rueda has obtained a percentage of votes only six tenths below Feijóo's four years ago and higher than that obtained by the PP leader on July 23 (43.5%). By provinces, Rueda has lost one seat in Lugo and one in A Coruña.

“We don't want blackmail”

“Thank you very much. I will be a serene president for those who voted for me and for those who did not. Galicia sends a message to Spain: we do not want blackmail, nor to do it, nor to be subjected to it. We do not want privileges either for ourselves or for the rest”, Rueda stated, referring to the PSOE's alliances with separatism in the State. The winner appeared at the party headquarters in Santiago de Compostela while Xuntos, the song by Juan Pardo reinterpreted by Familia Caamagno, was playing. 

It has worked for the conservative formation to stir up fear of a government presided over by the BNG, which they wanted to place alongside EH Bildu and Carles Puigdemont. The PP presented a narrative in a state-wide context during the campaign that broke with the previous dynamic of focusing only on Galicia, but it has not backfired. Neither has Feijóo's blunder with the supposed pardon for Puigdemont. “It was media noise that was not internal”, assure sources from Génova, who downplay the matter and do not say whether the PP leader would have been in a delicate situation had he lost. “If it was a referendum, Feijóo wins and [Pedro] Sánchez loses”, they emphasize. The PP leadership, euphoric, congratulated Rueda by videoconference and the number 2, Cuca Gamarra, urged Sánchez to carry out a "deep reflection".

The worst results for the PSOE

The PSOE obtains its worst historical results, with 9 deputies and 14% of the vote. The candidate, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, has not succeeded and has been relegated behind the figure of Ana Pontón, who has finally fallen far short of the presidency. The socialists lose one seat in A Coruña, two in Pontevedra, and two in Ourense, where the local candidacy Democràcia Ourensana enters the Galician Parliament for the first time. It had been speculated whether it could be key to tipping majorities, but it will ultimately be a testimonial presence. The fall of the PSOE is compensated by the BNG, which wins two seats in A Coruña and Pontevedra, one in Lugo, and another in Ourense, thus strengthening itself as the main opposition party. "We are the hope of everyone who thinks Galicia needs more," resigned Pontón, who also showed herself "disappointed" by an "insufficient" result.

The results show that the progressive forces have increased their vote percentage: from 43.2% that the BNG and the PSOE added up to four years ago, they have now reached 45.5%, which is slightly higher if the 1.9% and 0.25% collected by Sumar and Podemos, respectively, are added. In this sense, if there is a clear face of defeat after this electoral event, it is that of Yolanda Díaz. The leader of Sumar had promoted her right-hand woman as a candidate, Marta Lois, suffering a resounding blow by being left out of the parliamentary arena. The second vice-president of the Spanish government, who has avoided self-criticism, did not achieve a joint candidacy with Podemos and the rise of the BNG has completely eclipsed Sumar, which has not come close to the necessary 5% in any of the four provinces. In A Coruña, where Díaz is originally from – she is from Ferrol – she has remained at 2.2%. To top it off, she has obtained globally fewer votes than Vox, anecdotal in a community where the right concentrates its vote in the PP. And Podemos has ended up behind Pacma.

One of the important derivatives of these elections could be the vote from abroad. Galicia is the community in the State with the most residents abroad registered in the census and, following the elimination of the postal vote, it could become a key factor. On July 23, it was already confirmed that the loss of the voting habit of the diaspora was difficult to recover, and this time external participation remained at 6.15%, five points more than four years ago but far from the records that had been seen before bureaucratic obstacles were put in place for voters living abroad. The 29,300 votes from the CERA will still need to be counted from the 26th to define the final result, although it will not have an impact on the majorities. Rueda sings victory in Galicia and Feijóo breathes a sigh of relief in Madrid.