The PP chooses Albiol as an antidote to Vox on 11-29

BarcelonaEnthusiasm within the Catalan PP for the choice that is expected to be crowned this Sunday as the PP candidate for Barcelona in the upcoming Spanish elections, according to multiple sources consulted by ARA. The mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, has been selected as the PP's candidate for Barcelona with the fundamental task of being the antidote to Vox on November 29th, especially taking into account the great growth of the radical right-wing party in the Principality. Once the elections were brought forward, the most beloved figure within the Catalan PP was immediately clear that it was Albiol, while last week La Vanguardia was already pointing out that the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, was weighing up betting on him as a candidate.

In the Catalan PP executive committee this Thursday, it was already fully assumed, especially in the hallway conversations between high-ranking officials. And at the headquarters on Génova Street, they are already setting Sunday as the day to make it public, as this newspaper has confirmed, in a decision that will be preceded by the officialization of the candidate in Valencia this Saturday.

"All the focus on Barcelona", summarize some sources consulted about Albiol's nomination, who emphasize that "he is the right person and the most media-friendly", with "a forceful discourse to compete with Vox" in areas such as immigration, illegal occupations, and the fight against crime. This means that the rest of the candidates for the other constituencies will not be presented on the same day, even though they are already closed. "Albiol would be a great candidate", the Catalan leader, Alejandro Fernández, even stated in an interview this Friday on RTVE.

Publicly, Albiol has repeatedly defended that everything depended on Feijóo and, without closing any doors, has reaffirmed his commitment as mayor of his city. "I will help my party in everything it asks of me that is compatible with the mayoralty", he stated again this Friday in Elche, although he clarified that the Galician leader had not "called" him. The position of candidate is not incompatible with the role of state deputy, although due to his defense of "Badalonism" regardless of ideologies, he has already received a barrage of criticism from the opposition.

Several Catalan leaders point out that "it is the best" that could be chosen, while the state leadership has valued from the first moment his profile as the ideal one to replace Nacho Martín Blanco, who will not repeat, while the rest of the Barcelona list will be marked by whether Feijóo will listen to the requests of the various families. For some time now, the Alejandrist Dani Serrano has been sounding like a future state deputy for Barcelona.

Revulsive

The PP trusts that Albiol will be the catalyst in a context of Vox's growth, which obtains votes from working-class and socialist strongholds, as well as 20% of Aliança's potential voters. Albiol obtained 50,000 votes and 55.7% in the Badalona municipal elections –which allowed him to be elected with an absolute majority–, but the percentage plummeted to 16.6% and 16,400 votes in the last general elections, in which in Badalona, between the left and the independence movement, they gathered almost three out of every four votes.