Ayuso opens the door to challenging Feijóo for the PP leadership in future congresses.

MadridIsabel Díaz Ayuso is closing ranks with Alberto Núñez Feijóo's leadership at the PP congress to be held in less than a month, but she is opening the door to challenging him for the party presidency in the future. At the meeting on July 4, 5, and 6, the PP leader has set the goal of "improving" the system for electing future PP presidents—which currently involves two-round primaries in which all members speak first, followed by the votes of the delegates. In light of this debate, the Madrid president is pushing for a primary model that is "as democratic and open as possible." This system would entail leaving the decision solely in the hands of party members and, given her popularity among the rank and file, it is assumed that it could favor her to the detriment of other contenders. For the moment, Feijóo has not commented on what the change should be, claiming that those in charge of making the proposal—chosen by him—are still drafting it.

In an interview on Antena 3 this Monday, Ayuso did not deny that this defense of a primary model that responds to the premise of "one member, one vote" is with that objective. However, the leader of the Madrid PP made it clear that a hypothetical dispute for Feijóo's leadership is a "matter for future congresses." "These are decisions for the future; we are here in the present," she assured. According to the president of the Community of Madrid, the president of her party has "her full support." However, she also made it clear that in a congress "there must be disparity of criteria on some issues," such as in the debate on how to modify the primary system that was designed at the 2017 meeting and implemented at the following year's congress elected by Pablo Casado. On that occasion, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría won the first round by the vote of the party members, but when it was the turn of the delegates, Casado prevailed by gaining the support of the delegates who favored María Dolores de Cospedal when she was left out of the race to lead the party.

Ayuso has emphasized that the primary model must be designed "with the expectation that new leaders will have to be elected again" and to do so "in accordance with experience." In any case, the system for electing Feijóo's successor is not the only debate in which the Madrid president is establishing her own profile. Ayuso has been radicalizing her discourse for days and distancing herself from others. men of the PP, as happened this Friday at the Conference of Presidents in Barcelona with the use of the co-official languages. The Madrid president has strengthened this in the interview she gave the day after the PP demonstration in Madrid against Pedro Sánchez and called the defense of Spain as a "plurinational nation" "ridiculous." "They're destroying our country in our faces, and if you denounce it, you're an extremist," she complained.

As much as Ayuso's speech contrasts with the positioning of the other, more moderate soul of the PP, embodied by the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, or the Galician, Alfonso Rueda, the leader of the PP in Madrid has rejected the dichotomy between radicals and moderates in the party. "Radicality is going to the root of the problems and saying things as they are [...]. They will have to explain to me what moderation is [...]; moderation is often called upon so that one does not say what one thinks and is always giving in and not being sincere with what one thinks. They often play with terms moderation and radicality And I don't know in this case what difference there is between one position or another in relation to the president of the PP," he said.

Genoa plays down differences

"We are a democratic and open party in which everyone can express themselves however they wish," argued the PP spokesperson, Borja Sémper, downplaying internal differences. Images such as that of Ayuso meeting this Sunday with the Argentine president, Javier Milei, with whom Feijóo does not share this understanding, demonstrate the distance between the Madrid president's line and the "centrality" that Génova preaches to represent a "social majority." However, Sémper asserted that the PP hooligans but as citizens" and has claimed that this is what "the entire PP" preaches, despite the different sensitivities.