Feijóo opens PP pre-campaign in Madrid, promising 'serene but forceful' change before 29 November

Rally at Ifema

Alberto Núñez Feijóo opened the People's Party (PP) pre-campaign on Saturday at the Ifema convention centre in Madrid, under the slogan 'Por fin España' ('Finally Spain'). The party put attendance at about 2,000, and many supporters could not get inside and gathered at the entrance, where Feijóo addressed them through a microphone. The rally took place 50 days before the general election on Sunday 29 November, which Pedro Sánchez called after a parliamentary defeat inflicted by Junts, one of his own partners. Former presidents José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy attended, along with regional PP presidents, the Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida. The Andalusian PP president Juan Manuel Moreno was absent, and Feijóo said without naming him that those who were not present 'have obligations'.

Feijóo's pitch: reconstruction and sacrifice

Feijóo framed his platform as a 'national reconstruction' rather than a simple change of government, promising a 'calm but forceful and total' change in the country. He told the crowd that the PP would 'compete, govern and win', and said a future PP government would ask Spaniards for sacrifice without asking them to applaud. Housing, the issue that triggered the election call, was mentioned only once in a speech of around 20 minutes, according to eldiario.es. He accused Sánchez's government of corruption and of trying to control the judiciary, silence the Senate and put the CIS and TVE at its service. He also presented himself as someone who had come up through management and public service.

I am not proposing a simple alternation in power.

Feijóo contrasted his background with the rivals he attacked, saying he does not come from the 'saunas' or the 'sewers' that he associated with his opponents. He promised to govern 'with the truth up front' and 'without lying', and said he would seek the votes of Spaniards who had never voted for the PP. He said that 50 days remained to talk with every Spaniard.

I do not come from the sewers or the saunas.

Allies and rivals on housing

Isabel Díaz Ayuso called the people camped in Puerta del Sol 'terrorists', according to eldiario.es. Martínez-Almeida referred to the eviction of a woman named Maricarmen from her home in Retiro a few weeks earlier, and her death afterwards, which he said had sparked social unrest over the housing crisis. He cited a warning by Más Madrid that there would be 'no peace in the streets' of the capital. Martínez-Almeida predicted that the left would run a dirty campaign and said the PP would not give up the streets.

They are going to run a campaign of hate, of confrontation, of finger-pointing.

Martínez-Almeida said the PP would canvass all 21 Madrid districts and every neighbourhood. He called the coming election a 'historic responsibility' for voters, which the article presents in his own words.

Regional demands

Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the PP president in the Valencian Community, said his delegation was one of the largest at the rally. He presented a future Feijóo government as one that would prioritise the region, and listed what he called permanent grievances by Sánchez's government. Those included 4,000 million pending for dependency funding, 1,000 million for healthcare for displaced people, the completion of the Mediterranean Corridor, second runways at Manises and Alicante-Elche airports, and the Tajo-Segura water transfer. He also cited the fund for equalisation and the recognition of Valencian in all institutions.

With Feijóo we are going to have a president who does prioritise the Valencian Community.

What comes next

Feijóo closed his speech by describing the 29 November vote as the start of a new phase for the country. The PP has 50 days to campaign before the general election, and the party's secretary general Miguel Tellado is reported by EL PAÍS to be central to decisions on who will appear on the lists. Feijóo's speech made clear that the election date sets the timetable for the party's push across Spain.

That is where a new democratic history of Spain begins.