Feijóo joins Ayuso and will ask for "more guarantees" for postal voting

MadridIt didn't even take an hour for Isabel Díaz Ayuso to generate the first controversy of the electoral pre-campaign. Before Alberto Núñez Feijóo could comment on Pedro Sánchez's decision to call early elections, the Madrid president had already set the agenda by stoking the ghost of electoral fraud. "I ask that no one think of voting by mail," she insisted early Monday at an informative breakfast. Since then, this warning, launched without any proof of the supposed risk of rigging, has become one of the most commented-on topics, and has caused the PP to get tangled up trying to balance things. The leader of the Popular Party, in fact, avoided speaking publicly on the issue for two days until this Wednesday, when he joined Ayuso and her thesis.

In an appearance from Ceuta, Feijóo announced that "in the coming days" his party will ask the Central Electoral Board (JEC) to adopt "additional measures to increase the guarantee of the postal vote". In this way, the popular president subscribes to the doubts that had been expressed not only by the leader of the Madrid PP but also by Vox. Feijóo defended his initiative by saying that he does not trust "the executives of Correos," since it belongs to the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), a public entity attached to the Ministry of Finance that manages the Spanish state's participation in numerous strategic companies and is under the focus of the courts due to the Leire Díez case. On the other hand, the popular leader assured that he "fully trusts the mail carriers and the public workers" of this public company that he himself managed in the early 2000s.

Other voices from the PP, such as the president of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, or the spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, had already supported Ayuso's doubts. The person who, until now, had distanced himself the most from the Madrid president's thesis, although avoiding confrontation, had been the PP spokesperson, Borja Sémper, one of the party's most moderate leaders. In an interview with RNE this Wednesday, prior to Feijóo's remarks, Sémper remarked that the electoral system is "guarantor" and called for voting "by land, sea, and air." The popular spokesperson sent a message of reassurance to potential right-wing voters who might fear their vote could be manipulated if cast by mail: "Fortunately, we have tools and we have the capacity to verify that the system works." At the same time, he also avoided disavowing Ayuso, assuring that he understands "the fear" that "many people" might have, taking into account the "precedents" of what Sánchez might do.

Finally, Feijóo has opted to announce this move in light of this fear of hypothetical manipulation that has been generated from within his own political space. Génova had avoided dismantling it, despite the nuances introduced by Sémper and the criticism received from the left, which has defended the existing system of guarantees and accused the PP of acting in an "undemocratic" way. Shortly before the popular leader spoke, Ayuso's executive insisted that the best option was in-person voting. "We prefer to see the vote fall into the ballot box," said the spokesperson for the Madrid government, Miguel Ángel García Martín. It remains to be seen if, with the measures that the JEC may adopt at Feijóo's request, this preference of the Madrid PP might end up changing.

Start of the pre-campaign in Ceuta

Feijóo has spoken out about postal voting following questions from journalists, but his goal this Wednesday was to focus on Ceuta, where he made his first pre-campaign trip. The PP leader has promised that the autonomous city will be "the first file on the council of ministers' table" if he reaches the Moncloa and has defended that, had he been president of the Spanish government, he would have deployed the army to prevent the mass entry of immigrants. The PP leader will officially activate the electoral pre-campaign this Thursday with a meeting of the national board of directors, the highest body between congresses, where he will announce that the deputy secretary of sectorial policy, Alma Ezcurra, will be responsible for drafting the electoral program and that Ester Muñoz will be the campaign spokesperson. Feijóo's next pre-campaign event will be this Saturday in Madrid, accompanied by Ayuso.