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The Vox candidate for Mayor of Madrid resides in one of the most traditional neighborhoods of the city, where the aristocratic essence is mixed with the most cañí spirit. Undoubtedly, one of the great virtues of Chamberí is to have known how to modernize without losing an iota of its essence.
A huge Spanish flag clinging to an 18-meter-high mast – placed by José Luis Martínez-Almeida in 2019 to commemorate Constitution Day – presides over the Plaza de Chamberí, where, at mid-morning, many retirees wait sitting on the benches.
Many know Javier Ortega Smith, who has lived in the district for years. "Before we saw him a lot, but for a long time, he appears much less," says the kiosk on Santa Engracia Street. "Yes, you can see him around here. He is a good person" or "he is polite and thorough, another thing is that you commune with his ideology," declare the neighbors.
Chamberí is also the district where Isabel Díaz Ayuso resides and where the PP wins the elections by a landslide. "This neighborhood is 100% right-wing. The other day Podemos came to distribute leaflets and I thought they were wasting their time," says María Luisa emphatically.
Sitting in a wheelchair, she is one of the many elderly people living in this district, one of the oldest in Madrid and the one with the largest population over 80 years old.
There is no doubt that the heart of Chamberí belongs to the PP, a neighborhood that was the residence of the aristocracy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the regional elections of 2021, the hoteliers of Ponzano Street placed posters with the photo of the president of Madrid and the slogan: "Ayuso we are all. Thank you for taking care of us." In this way, they expressed their gratitude for the policies of the popular leader during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ayuso's results that year in this district were overwhelming when he won 56% of the votes, quite a distance from Más Madrid, which obtained 13% of the votes, the PSOE, with 11%, and Vox with 8%.
In the last municipal elections, held in 2019, the results were more disputed: the PP got 34% of the ballots ahead of Más Madrid with 26%, Cs with 20% and Vox with 8%.
Vote of punishment to Sánchez
So far, the number of votes obtained by Ortega Smith in his district has been discreet. The question currently is whether Vox will keep that profile low or if it will grow by receiving the ballots of Ciudadanos or the vote of punishment to the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
Because, although they are regional and municipal elections, many citizens are going to vote in a national key. "I have never supported the PP. I have always voted for the PSOE, but I will vote for Vox. I want to try and change to see if the others do better, "argues Ángeles Nieto, who shows the bracelet of Spain that the radical formation has given him. "They also gave me a little flag that I put in my room," he adds.
She is not the only one who confesses that she is going to change her ballot to vote for Santiago Abascal's party. Concepción, a Portuguese woman who can vote in the municipal elections, indicates that she voted for Ciudadanos in the previous electoral appointment, but that she will not repeat, since, on this occasion, she opts for Vox. "They seem to me the most sincere," he confesses.
Ortega Smith, in his municipal group. ANGEL NAVARRETE
At noon, the terrace of Rodilla in the Plaza de Chamberí is bursting. In this place was located years ago the candy store of Fernando Eduardo Ortega Smith, the younger brother of the Vox candidate, who died on May 12. Both brothers were neighbors and Ortega acknowledged that it had been a hard blow and suspended the electoral campaign for three days.
In front of the terrace of Rodilla, Juan Rodríguez, Ángel Álvarez and Carmen Bocanegra chat animatedly. They are lifelong neighbors of the neighborhood and are already retired. The first was a teacher, the second, a doorman and the third, an assistant: "Here we are all pensioners and we are getting by. We can't complain. I have always been from the PSOE, but I also liked Carmena. The ones I don't like are either Villacís or Vox," says Carmen. "Neither do I. Ortega Smith believes it. He looks like a bully to me," the other two reply.
No floods of tourists
Chamberí is one of those places where people prefer to meet for an aperitif before brunch and where traditional tiled taverns still reign along with steel bars where you can have some beers or a vermouth. Without major monuments or tourist attractions, the district has been spared the invasion of Airbnb, so it maintains its authenticity.
A good proof of its casticism is that throughout this month of May zarzuelas are interpreted at the Amaya Theater on General Martínez Campos Street and until June 4 the famous Verbena de la Paloma is represented.
Javier Valdivieso is a rara avis. He defines himself as Catalan by birth, Madrid by adoption and Spanish by conviction. He has lived in the United States for many years and is in favor of governing the most voted list. "I do not agree that you vote for one and then Pepito joins Jesusito and, the one who has not won, wins. That is distorting the vote. In the end, you don't vote by conviction but by elimination," he criticizes.
Almeida and Ayuso seem fantastic, compared to the Catalan political class: "The separatists are the worst dictators you can imagine," Valdivieso proclaims.
A few meters away, María Luisa and Marimar rest in the sun on a bench in the Plaza de Chamberí. If they have to take stock of Almeida's legislature, they maintain that the mayor has not done badly, but "not for outstanding either."
"What happens is that it's funny, it's funny and it fits people well. Now, he is frying us to fines with the radars hidden in the city, "they censor.
They also reproach the councilor who promised to end Madrid Central and has not done so: "My daughter has an old car and cannot enter the center. There are many people in Madrid who have old cars and now they can not use them, "they lament. And Pedro Sánchez?. "They should fulminate him. It's hard to make it worse," they conclude.
- Articles Ana del Barrio
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