Socialist mullings in Madrid

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 18:23

Written by Editor

By Martin Delfín  Memo from Madrid

The elections are still a year away but the battle for Madrid has begun among the PSOE rank and file. The question is: who is going to be given the task to try to unseat the Popular Party’s regional premier Esperanza Aguirre? Since 2007 when he won the post of secretary general of the Madrid Socialist Party (PSM), Tomás Gómez has made it more than clear that he believes the nomination is his. Gomez´s adamant stance has forced some Socialist leaders, who don’t want him, to quietly try to convince him to step aside because Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has made up his own mind. Trinidad Jiménez, the health minister and one of the more popular figures inside and outside the party, appears well on her way of becoming the Socialist candidate in the regional elections next May.

Still, no candidate has yet to be selected but the noises over the proposed choices have grown louder over the past few week. A few behind-the-scenes meetings have been held among party leaders trying to head off an internal battle for the nomination. PSOE president Manuel Chaves spoke with Gómez on July 15th to let him know that the polls just don’t favour him. Chaves, a Socialist powerbroker, didn’t come out and say it but he let it be known that the prime minister has someone else on his list. Publicly, Gómez has said that if someone else wants to run for the PSOE nomination then there must be a primary. This hasn’t set well with the Socialists, especially Zapatero who told the party leadership on July 26th that the candidate for the regional elections won’t be announced until September in order to let things cool down.

But after El País broke the story that Zapatero had already made his choice and with Gomez’s ceaseless insistence that the job is his, Zapatero was forced last Monday to publicly offer his assessments. “I hold Tomás Gómez – whom I have an admirable relationship – in good standing because of the fine job he has done for the party in Madrid . I hold Trinidad Jiménez in good, excellent standing because of the marvellous job she has done as Health minister, which has given me great satisfaction,” said Zapatero with a gleam in his eye. He said that he also favoured Jaime Lissavetzky, the secretary of state for sports, to run against Madrid ’s popular Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón of the PP.

The prime minister has every obligation to support the woman who helped him get to where he is today. The 47-year-old Málaga native was one of the founders of Nuevo Vía (New way), which in 2003 helped Zapatero win the PSOE leadership. She served as a councillor in Madrid and secretary of state for Ibero-American affairs for three years before she was given the job as Health minister in 2009. According to polls, her popularity grew following last winter’s pandemonium over the swine flu epidemic; it was Jiménez who calmed the country’s fears and ensured there were enough vaccines to go around. She remains one of the top four PSOE national leaders most admired by party supporters.

But Gómez’s own popularity isn’t lagging. Born in the Netherlands to Spanish emigrants, the 42-year-old politician served as mayor of the Madrid suburb of Parla from 1999-2008. He has garnered the title of the most voted for mayor in Spain, capturing more than 73 percent of the popular vote during his two re-elections in 2003 and 2007. He stepped down as mayor to assume the PSM leadership. Gómez, who is said to have the support of the Socialist mayors who serve in the Madrid suburbs, hasn’t said what he will do following Zapatero’s comments. At press time, he had not made any statements about Zapatero’s public assessments and it is expected he will meet with the prime minister before announcing his decision on whether to step aside or wage an internal struggle.

All inside bickering aside, the Socialists know that they have an uphill battle to try to wrest control of the regional and city governments from the PP. Mayor Ruiz-Gallardón enjoys immense popularity among his constituents, including many Socialists who have valued his work in running an efficient capital. Aguirre, on the other hand, has had her hands filled with controversy. Her administration was plagued by a political spy scandal and her off-the-wall, sometimes vulgar, comments about her rivals have raised a few eyebrows. Still, she has the support of PP militants, but those who don’t side with her want her out of office, the polls show.

Traditionally, Madrid is a PP town where the Socialists are in meagre position. Zapatero said he wants to try to change the way things are run in the capital and has placed the Madrid race as the party’s biggest election goal in 2011. But before then, he is going to have to calm the bitterness over the selection of candidates and head off internal strife that could divide the PSOE and make him a loser.

Martin Delfin writes for the English language version of El Pais