The PP now says it prefers an "abstention by the PSOE in Extremadura to a coalition with Vox"

MadridThe People's Party continues to pull every string to retain the presidency of the Regional Government of Extremadura. A month and a half after the elections, in which María Guardiola won again And with Vox doubling its number of deputies, negotiations are more deadlocked than ever. After Vox one announced yesterday No resounding to María Guardiola And that the Extremadura candidate asked the PSOE for "responsibility" to unblock the situation, the PP's state leadership has adopted her argument baroness Territorial. "We prefer a single-party government with the PSOE abstaining to a coalition with Vox," say sources close to Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

Despite having been negotiating a coalition government with Vox for over a month, the deadlock in talks has forced the PP to look to the PSOE. "We prefer not to hand over any portfolios," they now insist from the PP, who admit that if Santiago Abascal's party doesn't lower its demands—they want ministries with budgets—"the situation becomes more complicated." In recent weeks, Feijóo has appealed to Vox's "proportionality" and "responsibility" to reach agreements: "The protest vote must be put to work," he said yesterday from Valencia. The first investiture debate in Extremadura will be on March 3: if an agreement between the PP and Vox isn't reached before then, the deadline to avoid a repeat election will be May 3. This will not be the only negotiation underway between the two parties: in parallel, the PP will also have to deal with Vox in Aragon if it wants to repeat the presidency of Jorge Azcón.

María Guardiola still believes the pact with the far right will come to fruition, but she thinks that, given the election results, Vox cannot demand that the PP "transform" itself from them. Similarly, Feijóo's team insists that, "generally speaking," they prefer single-party governments to "handing power over to other parties," but they admit that if this formula involves "impossible abstentions," they must "explore other options." "Since neither Vox nor the PSOE intends to abstain in exchange for anything, we are left with no option but to explore securing support in exchange for something, which could be seats in government councils," these same sources conclude, blaming the Socialists for their understanding with the far right. What they do rule out, despite the deadlock, is a repeat election: "What will be different?" they ask from the PP headquarters. Nor do they foresee María Guardiola having to step aside due to disagreements with the far right, whom they criticize for wanting to "replace" her despite having obtained 26 percentage points less at the polls.

The PP's shift in negotiations in Extremadura came on the same day as Feijóo He raised his voice in Congress against Sánchez, whom he has blamed for the Adamuz accident. These are circumstances that Vox will surely exploit, given their constant criticism of the Popular Party's alliances with the Socialists. In fact, just this Tuesday, Abascal urged Feijóo to "choose" whether he wants to "change course" or join forces with the Socialists: "If he wants to maintain the same policies that forced us to leave government, he has the PSOE for that, and we are not needed."

The PP and Vox walked hand in hand in the autonomous communities until Santiago Abascal ordered to abandon the coalitions as a protest against the distribution of migrants that the PP agreed to with the Spanish government. However, the animosity between the two parties in Extremadura has surfaced from the beginning. After the May 2023 elections, Guardiola already stated that he could not "let in" those who "deny gender violence," alluding to Vox, but ten days later he had to swallow this refusal and signed a coalition agreement with the far right: "I stand by my word."

The state strategy

Despite ongoing talks with Vox at the regional level, the PP headquarters in Madrid reiterates that Feijóo's commitment is to govern alone and avoid a coalition with Vox after the next Spanish elections. "I'm not aware of any changes," sources close to the PP leader clarified. They drew a line between the two spheres: "The regional level is different." However, just yesterday, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, expressed her full support for building bridges with Vox: "We would be making an unforgivable mistake if we weren't able to seize the opportunity the Spanish people are giving us; we cannot let them down." She even admitted that in 2023 she would have preferred to lose seats and have Vox gain them to enable Feijóo's investiture.