Extremadura doesn't matter, Madrid matters

A new cycle of regional elections is beginning in Extremadura, and the Madrid media is watching closely. It's not that they have any real interest in the provincial governments, of course, but rather that they see it as the Golden Globes: the prelude to the Oscars, which is the truly important gala, that is, the elections to seize power. For now, the PP candidate, María Guardiola, is leading in the polls, but she hasn't secured an absolute majority, so the typical exchange of statements and counter-statements about possible alliances has erupted, expressed in sufficiently ambiguous terms so that they can be swallowed whole the day after the election and the process moves forward. What is most surprising, or perhaps not, is that depending on the publication, one finds contradictory messages. The reasonFor example, he interviews the Popular Party leader and removes the headline "In the agreements, I don't impose a cordon sanitaire on anyone." But theABC He also speaks with Guardiola, but what he gets out of it suggests the opposite. Specifically, he says that he is standing firm in his position: "I already refused to let him into the government." The CountryOf course, he exploits the need for these seats that he will presumably require ("Feijóo makes it a given that he will need Vox in Extremadura") and it's interesting how he introduces the name of the party's national leader. It must be said that, from within the ranks of Vox, they also produce excellent results. In an interview with the media TodayThe far-right candidate, Óscar Fernández Calle, proudly asserts: "There will be no agreement with Guardiola just so she can continue collecting her president's salary."

This Sunday will mark the end of this shadow play phase, and it will be time to finalize agreements and, above all, to see if the males The PP has room to maneuver or will it bow to the dictates of the party's leaders in Genoa? This is the crucial battle that many Spanish newspapers will stop reporting on.