Controversy in the PP because the number two of Girona lives in Barcelona

BarcelonaLast September Jaume Veray resigned as president of the PP of Girona to make way for the young Empordanès Daniel Ruiz, until then general secretary in the province. To form a tandem, Ruiz chose as his number two a name that the party did not make public: Alfonso Sánchez Fisac, former deputy of Ciutadans in the legislature of the 1-O referendum (until 2020) and former councilor of Tossa de Mar (2019-2023), before joining the popular ranks. That decision, however, has not stopped accumulating criticism, and one of the most vocal concerns the fact that he lives in Barcelona.

"It's outrageous that the general secretary of the PP of Girona lives in Barcelona, it's a disgrace," lament territorial voices consulted, who, on the other hand, positively value Ruiz's role in revitalizing the organization. "It's a joke; he doesn't live in Girona, he only comes when he has to, like when a senator visits. He comes, goes back, and that's it," lament other popular voices. "He lives in Barcelona, but he's a hard worker," others maintain. Several voices question his work and his ability to exercise his organic position.

When consulted by ARA, Sánchez explains: "I am working in Barcelona, I used to work in Tossa. I spend the whole week here [in Barcelona], I go up to Tossa on weekends, but during the week I travel, I go up, I go to Madrid, to the whole province [of Girona]..." He adds that "it's even easier to go to Figueres from Barcelona by AVE." While admitting at first that he spends the week in Barcelona, where he runs his automotive company, he later qualifies that he has "his life in Tossa": "I live in Tossa, my professional life has nothing to do with my personal life." He mentions that he has a rented apartment and alternates his life between Barcelona, Tossa, and the work areas of the province of Girona. According to him, this controversy responds to the need to discredit him "by people who covet the position": "It's not about me, I already have my life sorted out; I don't need positions, I do it voluntarily." In fact, he combines his business activity with this party assignment and recalls that no one asked him where he lived or worked when they offered him the position.

Critics point to the element that is vox populi: that he lives with his partner Tatiana Cabrera, a councilor for the Sant Andreu district of Barcelona for the PP since this February. "Let them say what they want. They know nothing about either of them," he explains, adding that he does not comment on his personal or professional life.

The hidden choice of number two

Why was he chosen as number two in Girona? Sánchez speaks of "the assignment" that the PP gave him to "recover the political structure" it had until the arrival of Ciutadans. Other sources suggest that he arrived "by chance", by surprise, and with the help of Madrid. And why was Sánchez's name not made public? "They remain in the internal sphere, the political task is the provincial president's," he says himself.

One of the tasks of the Girona general secretary is to create candidacies, and some sources suggest that, among others, he has been entrusted with the mission of finding candidates for difficult towns, where the PP obtained less than 3% of the support, such as Ripoll or Sant Joan de les Abadesses. Sánchez will also be the mayoral candidate in Tossa, if the current forecast is met. The current general secretary joined the popular party when he was still a councilor for Ciutadans in Tossa and did not manage to revalidate his seat with the PP in the municipal elections of 2023, where he was the head of the list.