PP charges close ranks with Feijóo but ask to define the strategy before Vox because the voter was "confused" on 23J

They regret that the agreements in the CCAA have not been delayed until after the general elections and believe that it would have been better to lose Extremadura

MADRID, 26 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Members of the PP consulted by Europa Press reject that the leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo is in question after the bitter victory that the results of last Sunday entailed, which left the party far from their expectations, but they agree that the "errors" must be analyzed " in the campaign and define the strategy before Vox because, in his opinion, they did not act in a "coherent" way and the electorate was "confused".

In particular, they focus on what happened in Extremadura in the middle of the electoral campaign, where the president of the PP from Extremadura, María Guardiola, vetoed Vox but later accepted the entry of the formation in the regional Executive. "My word is not as important as the future of Extremadura," Guardiola claimed after signing the coalition pact with Vox in Extremadura.

"This has influenced 23J. We have won Extremadura but we have lost the general elections," says a veteran PP parliamentarian. Along the same lines, another leader believes that it would have been "better to lose Extremadura" and for the socialist Guillermo Fernández Vara to govern. "Guardiola swung and then sheathed it with Vox. That disorients people a lot and is what has hurt Feijóo the most," stresses another of the consulted charges.

Most of the sources consulted agree that the pacts with Vox in the CCAA that arose from the May 28 elections should have been delayed and they regret that the party was not more farsighted and considered Sánchez's strategy focused on fear of Vox for the fact that it had not worked a year before in the Andalusian elections.

"Those pacts in the middle of the campaign have served to mobilize the left-wing voter," summarizes a PP deputy, who believes that they have also "disconcerted" center voters who initially planned to bet on Feijóo. "We have not been able to explain that after agreeing with Vox the world does not end. Pedagogy has been lacking," adds another parliamentarian, who believes that now the national leadership must "adjust" the story.

This is an opinion shared by more members of the party, who agree that the strategy must be "rethought" with Vox because the PSOE thesis of "demonizing" Santiago Abascal's party cannot be followed but then agree with them in the autonomies.

"The lack of clarity and the inconsistency have puzzled many voters," says a member of the Executive Committee of the PP. "Pedagogy has been lacking," says another, who criticizes that the agreements with Vox have penalized the PP and, on the other hand, Pedro Sánchez does not take a toll on his agreements with Bildu and ERC.

'Popular' sources believe that it also "disoriented" the voters that Feijóo has spent months saying that "sanchismo" must be "repealed" but then proclaimed his intention to knock "on the PSOE's door" first to let him govern. "He has confused people a lot," in the words of a senator from the Popular Group.

In the ranks of the PP there are also voices that complain that Feijóo has not intervened to stop the profiles chosen by Vox to occupy the Presidencies of the autonomous Parliaments, which are key institutions.

In the same way, they censor statements such as those made by Santiago Abascal, assuring that tension will return to Catalonia if there was a government of PP and Vox, words that have "fattened" the PSC. "You cannot say that the street is going to catch fire. It has given two or three seats to the Socialists," exclaims a parliamentarian, who accuses Vox of having helped the PSOE in its campaign strategy.

In the PP they also regret that, unlike what happened in the May elections, now the appeal to the useful vote has not reached many provinces, so that the fragmentation of the center-right vote has made them lose at least eight deputies. "Vox has had a lot to blame for what has happened. You have to go after them because if not, we are not going to govern," analyzes a historic 'popular' leader, visibly upset.

Apart from the pacts with Vox, PP sources list other causes that have contributed to the final result of the general elections, such as the 1995 photo with the drug trafficker Marcial Dorado and his "erratic" explanation assuring that when he met him "he had been a smuggler, never a drug dealer." "It could be an amortized issue in Galicia, but in the rest of Spain people did not know it," says a "popular" parliamentarian.

Within the PP there is also a division of opinions about whether or not it was wrong with the decision not to attend the RTVE debate that Pedro Sánchez, Yolanda Díaz and Santiago Abascal accepted. Some believe that his absence was a mistake and he should have attended to defend himself; Other sources, however, maintain that the one who "was wrong" to go was the president of Vox because with his interventions he diverted the focus of the debate to where his rivals wanted.

Despite the "errors" of the PP in the campaign, in the ranks of the PP they close ranks with Feijóo, at a time when the PSOE sees the leader of the 'populares' "touched to death" and pretending that he can be invested to avoid a precipitous fall, according to socialist sources.

"His leadership has not been touched," says a "popular" leader with territorial weight, who also admits that "at the right procedural moment" both Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Juanma Moreno will aspire to succeed him, but not now.

"I don't see any internal response within the PP," says another "popular" charge, which predicts that, even if Pedro Sánchez manages to be sworn in thanks to Junts, the legislature will be so complicated that it will not last. In fact, the majority of those consulted forecast "a very short legislature" in the event that Sánchez continues to be the tenant of Moncloa and they believe that Feijóo must be prepared for when his moment arrives.

This closing of ranks with Feijóo was already expressed two days ago by the 'barons' of the PP in their interventions behind closed doors within the National Board of Directors of the party. And this Wednesday, Ayuso has publicly expressed his closed support for the leader of the PP and has recalled that he has the "mandate of the polls", some words that come after Esperanza Aguirre suggested that the future of his party passes through the current president Madrid.

PP sources hope that the summer holidays will help to lift the discouragement that has settled in the party and that was already seen on the same election night at the gates of Genoa, when despite the music and confetti, the long faces visualized the disappointment for not meeting expectations. "We cannot get into an internal mess. We have to get over it and move on," says a PP officer with many legislatures behind him.