The PP in Extremadura is now putting all its eggs in Vox's basket.

MadridThe Extremadura PP is now pinning all its hopes on Vox. After Wednesday's back-and-forth regarding whether they would be more comfortable with an abstention from the PSOE or Vox than with a coalition government with the far right, María Guardiola (PP), who aspires to re-election as president of the Extremadura Regional Government, now sees an agreement as the only possible path. "My only intention is to reach an agreement [with Vox]," Guardiola stated in a press conference Thursday morning. The PP member, who requested discretion, asserted that there are "more things" that "unite" them than "divide" them with Vox, even though it was the disagreement with the far right over the regional budget that led to the snap elections last December. Guardiola explained that she made a final call to Vox Tuesday night and is now awaiting their response. "There is every intention" to reach an agreement, she insisted. But a month and a half after the elections, in whichMaría Guardiola won againAnd with Vox doubling its seats, negotiations are more deadlocked than ever, raising the specter of a repeat election.

That's why it was Guardiola herself who appealed to the PSOE's "responsibility" to break the deadlock. A roadmap that the PP's national leadership endorsed this Wednesday. Sources close to Alberto Núñez Feijóo acknowledged that they prefer "not to hand over cabinet positions" and that if Abascal's party doesn't lower its demands—they want ministries with budgets—"the situation becomes more complicated." In any case, this Thursday the PP candidate backtracked on this idea: not only has she closed the door to a meeting with the PSOE—"I will not undo the progress of these past two years," she asserted—but she has also made it clear that "the only party" she is working with to reach an agreement is Vox. The aspiration to reach this agreement has also been expressed by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, through social media. X.

Meanwhile, the Socialists are maintaining their stance of not facilitating a PP-led regional government and rejecting the idea of ​​abstaining to allow María Guardiola to return as president of Extremadura. "There will be no abstention," sources from the Socialist Party headquarters in Ferraz told Europa Press.. Some Extremaduran socialists, however, have raised that possibility.

A scenario, however, that Emiliano García-Page, from La Mancha and one of the regional leaders most critical of Pedro Sánchez, sees as impossible: "Neither the PP is seriously considering it, nor is there room within the PSOE to discuss it," he stated this Thursday from Toledo. The socialist from La Mancha, who embraces the idea of ​​early elections, cFelipe González proposedHe also criticized Ferraz's strategy in the regional elections: "It can't be that the entire infantry ends up being forced into the trenches so that the headquarters simply continues to exist," he stated.