The PSOE refuses to facilitate a PP government without Vox with its abstention

"These elections leave us with a clear conclusion. There are only two government options: a PSOE government or a Vox government in which the PP is committed," Sicilia said at the press conference after the management meeting in which has assured that "the cordon sanitaire for the extreme right is to vote for the PSOE". "Those who want to move forward only have the PSOE as a government possibility, the other option is no longer a government that does not move forward but rather goes backwards. With Vox you do not advance, you go backwards," she said.

"This scenario has not been promoted by the PSOE, it has been promoted by the PP, they wanted to take that risk, that they be responsible. They did not look after the interests of Castilla y León, they looked after the interests of Casado. It is the scenario that led to the PP", Sicily has stated. That is one of the arguments of the socialist leadership to unload the pressure to facilitate a PP government, preventing it from being conditioned by the extreme right. Despite the fact that Genoa's strategy is for now to try to attract provincial formations to prevent Vox from entering the Government, the PSOE considers that it has no other alternative. Santiago Abascal's party has rejected any formula that does not involve his participation in the executive. "They depend on the extreme right of Vox," Sicilia has sentenced, recalling that he already has his "approval" judging by the position he has maintained in the campaign.

At the moment, only one voice has clearly spoken in favor of abstaining to allow Alfonso Fernández Mañueco not to depend on Vox. It has been the mayor of Valladolid, Óscar Puente, one of Sánchez's strong men in his battle for the "no is no" to Mariano Rajoy. "We must offer the PP the possibility of governing without Vox. We cannot, out of consistency, say that Vox is a danger to democracy and coexistence, believe it and at the same time not offer an alternative," defended the councillor, who He is no longer part of the federal leadership before recalling that the conservatives blame Sánchez for relying on parties like Bildu, "having no problem voting with them when it suits them" and without offering "the PSOE an alternative" despite the fact that he won the elections. "I think we can offer him an alternative to the PP and, if he decides to govern with Vox, that it is not because he has not been offered other options, that it is because he really wants to," he told reporters. He himself has recognized that it was a personal reflection and his words have not sat well with Ferraz.

The strategy of the national leadership is far from that position. In Ferraz they flatly rule out facilitating the investiture of Mañueco, whom they accuse of having made "the extreme right more powerful" by bringing forward elections for which the Socialists never saw reasons beyond the "personal and partisan interests" of the PP. The intention of the PSOE is to point to the new government of the Junta as the danger that threatens the rest of Spain in the future with the extreme right within the institutions.

And the first stop in which to use that argument is in Andalusia, where elections will be held this year - with the unknown of when Juanma Moreno Bonilla decides to press the button. "What was Aznar's party is now a government coalition with the extreme right sitting in the vice presidency," said the socialist candidate, Juan Espadas. "That political center that Moreno Bonilla wants to sell is mortgaged by a government formula or coalition that we will see between PP and Vox. Citizens have to be clear that they have to opt for that coalition with the extreme right or for an option like the one it represents the PSOE in Andalusia", said the socialist leader upon his arrival at the meeting of the federal Executive.

The Socialists are therefore betting on the strategy of fear of the extreme right that has not previously had results, when they also aired it because of the dependence that the PP has had on its regional governments since 2019. Asked why the extreme right continues to rise, despite these warnings, the PSOE spokesman attributed it to the decline of the PP.

"That idea of ​​changing the cycle that some want to try to impose is not given in view of the results," said Sicilia, who has recognized that they are not good for the PSOE but that it is not the "debacle" that was predicted. In fact, the argument of the Socialists is that they remain at 30% of the votes they obtained in the 2019 general elections. "The PSOE is still strong in Castilla y León. Citizens continue to see it as a government option", has assured the spokesman. In the PSOE they attribute a good part of their fall to the irruption of provincial platforms, such as Soria Ya! and the growth of the Unión del Pueblo Leonés, which has taken four seats from them; but Sicilia has been convinced that citizens "will understand that the best way to defend their interests and rights is the PSOE."

Ferraz has backed the socialist candidate, Luis Tudanca, who on election night opened the door to his departure by assuring that "others will come" who will be able to bring about change. The spokesman has assured that "he has done a great job", despite not having had the desired result" and that "he has no question because he was clearly elected a few months ago" as leader of the Socialists in Castilla y León. In any case, he has assured that the "reflection" corresponds to Tudanca and the socialists of that federation.