Noa de la Torre Valencia
Valencia
Updated Sunday, January 28, 2024-01:49
Valencia Drums of war in the PSOE: the challenge of two barons to a minister who denies being the "Ferraz candidate"
Minutes before the national committee of the Valencian PSOE started, there were those who issued a warning: "We must leave wars and warlords behind." The person who spoke these words was none other than the Government delegate in the
Valencian Community
and Ximo Puig's number two in the party,
Pilar Bernabé
. It was her way of warning against the two provincial barons who have dared to challenge the Minister of Science, who has Ferraz's approval to become Puig's successor. But Diana Morant is not satisfied with just being the next candidate for the
Generalitat
in 2027.
So in the war for control of the party, Morant will face
Alejandro Soler
and
Carlos Fernández Bielsa
, the socialist leaders of the provinces of
Alicante
and
Valencia
, respectively, and who have not always been aligned with Puig. Both have turned a deaf ear to the calls for unity that have been made in recent weeks. Neither Soler nor Bielsa have given up running to be the next secretary general, and both appeal to the importance of the militancy speaking out. Just like Pedro Sánchez did in his day to rise from the ashes.
The idea of
Ferraz
and the so-called
Ximismo
- the sector that brings together Puig's faithful - was to avoid primaries that would open the party up and would also expose an entire minister excessively. The condition, however, was that Morant lead a single consensus candidacy. At the moment, this solution seems impossible, although everyone continues to leave the door open to an agreement.
Carlos Fernández Bielsa and Alejandro Soler.KAI FÖRSTERLINGEFE
If it does not occur, the first round of the primaries will be on February 25. Socialist sources assure that the minister will go "for all." Without fear of wear. Her goal is to become the new general secretary of the PSPV-PSOE in March to be the socialist candidate for the Generalitat in 2027.
Hence, according to the sources consulted, she has rejected the offers that Soler has put on the table: from being the president of the party - a rather honorary position - to giving up being the general secretary now in exchange for being the candidate in 2027. The formula proposed by the Alicante leader is still a little-explored bicephaly in the Valencian federation. Even so, Soler hinted yesterday that the minister's institutional agenda will hardly be compatible with the party's leadership, since she will not be able to set foot in the Valencian Community for most of the week. "Today the person who can best lead the organization has to be general secretary," Soler stressed yesterday.
In the PSOE there are voices that consider that his bicephaly proposal is a mistake, to the extent that it only shows that he himself would not see himself in a position to be the socialist candidate in 2027. Even so, sources familiar with the negotiations between The candidates point out that Soler has also rejected the minister's offer to be the president of the party. Other leaders think that both Soler and Bielsa want to demonstrate their position of strength to have more room for negotiation in the final stretch of the campaign. If the two-day period for the presentation of pre-candidacies opens on Monday, the collection of endorsements begins next Wednesday, so that the campaign will start on Thursday, February 8.
In the socialist huddles, therefore, the calculator is now taken out to see who may have the most options. There are those who take for granted a victory for Morant taking into account that he is supported by the current leadership of Ximo Puig and, above all, Pedro Sánchez, although publicly Ferraz insists on the autonomy of the Valencian federation. "I am not Ferraz's candidate," Morant said yesterday. Soler and Bielsa rely on their organic power in the two provinces with the most militants. Both, in addition, were seen yesterday with charges of
abalismo
, that is, the family that groups those close to former minister
José Luis Ábalos
who already tried to subdue Puig.