Twenty-four hours after Alberto Núñez Feijóo stated at the PP congress that his preference is a solo government open to agreements with everyone except Bildu, the party's new secretary general, Miguel Tellado, sought to elevate what was merely a wish into a firm electoral commitment not to share a government with the far right. "There will be no coalition government," he said in a conversation with reporters. The fact that this commitment was made the day after the congress and not during the conclave, as would have been logical, and that Tellado did not want to verbalize it on camera, undermines the credibility of the announcement. What's worse, it demonstrates that the PP still has no clear position on the matter. So much so that the new PP spokesperson, Esther Muñoz, had not ruled out, shortly before Tellado's remarks, the possibility of Santiago Abascal eventually becoming Feijóo's vice president. "We'll have to wait and see the numbers," she had said.
This mess is the result of the difficult balancing act Feijóo has been forced to strike during the congress, where he has tried to please both the hardliners and the moderates. Tellado has gone further and even said that they would prefer to hold a repeat election rather than share the cabinet with Vox. It is clear that this is a strategy aimed at attracting disenchanted PSOE voters, along the lines of Juanma Moreno Bonilla's actions in Andalusia, and very different from the one applied by Isabel Díaz Ayuso in Madrid, who is seeking to gain ground on the right. Now we will have to see whether Ayuso remains silent or raises her voice to disagree, and at what moment.
As expected, the far right has taken advantage of this shift to attack the PP and strengthen its rhetoric against the two-party system. Beyond considering whether it's a profitable strategy for his party or not, what we must demand from Feijóo is clarity and consistency, because this isn't the first time he's renounced the pacts with Vox only to end up accepting them. men after the May 2023 elections. If the criterion is that agreements can be reached with Vox but not share a government, to be credible this should be extended to the autonomous regions and municipalities starting today. Let's remember that Vox withdrew from the regional governments of its own volition, but the PP shares with those of Valladolid.
Until this happens, there's no reason to believe what right now seems more like a toast to the sun than anything else.
