Feijóo avoids backing Pérez Llorca as Valencia’s PP candidate while demanding early elections
The PP national leader addresses 1,300 supporters in Sueca but declines to confirm Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca as the party’s candidate for the Valencian regional government, drawing sharp criticism from the opposition.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo returned to the Valencian PP’s internal arena for the first time since the departure of former president Carlos Mazón, at an event in Sueca hosted by provincial chief Vicent Mompó and attended by around 1,300 party members. The gathering had been billed as a show of strength, but the spotlight fell on what Feijóo did not say.
The missing endorsement
While the PP leader used the platform to call for unity and praise the work of local mayors and the regional government, he stopped short of any explicit commitment to Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca as the party’s candidate for the next autonomic elections. At the same event, Feijóo acknowledged other figures: Luis Barcala had been confirmed as the Alicante mayoral candidate the previous day, and María José Catalá, the mayor of Valencia, had recently received glowing praise from the national leadership.
Feijóo has come to Valencia and has talked about everything, but has avoided saying the most important thing for the Valencian PP: whether Pérez Llorca is his bet to lead the Generalitat in the next elections.
The socialist spokesman, José Muñoz, argued that the silence leaves Pérez Llorca in a position of political weakness and reflects doubts within the national party. He also pointed to the continued absence of any mention of Carlos Mazón, the former regional president who stepped down more than six months ago following the devastating dana floods.
Feijóo’s national offensive
Beyond the local uncertainty, Feijóo turned his fire on Pedro Sánchez, calling for early general elections and urging the prime minister not to stand again. He described a government that had failed to present a budget and accused Sánchez of being besieged by corruption cases, listing 15 separate judicial investigations involving 94 indicted individuals.
Every day we are more, and every day you extend your agony we will be more. We will bring about political change in Spain, one way or another.
Feijóo also condemned the Congress bureau’s decision to block a motion asking the chamber to urge the government to dissolve parliament, describing it as the suppression of a democratic majority.
A party waiting for a candidate
Pérez Llorca assumed the presidency of the Generalitat on an interim basis after Mazón’s resignation. Although he is widely regarded as the front‑runner, no date has been set for a regional congress to formalise his leadership, and Feijóo’s remarks ("we have a year, the government is working, the president is working") did little to settle the question. The PSPV described the silence as “very significant”, while party insiders sought to downplay the lack of a public confirmation.
