The PSOE aspires to leave behind the discouragement and resume the electoral race

MadridThe PSOE resumes the electoral race for November 29th. The pre-campaign events will once again occupy Pedro Sánchez's agenda starting this Friday afternoon, with a rally in Valencia. Bewilderment took hold of them after the train accident in Urda (Toledo), but once the three days of official mourning had passed –with Óscar Puente's resignation as Minister of Transport materialized and the XXX Ibero-American Summit, which is being held in Madrid this Wednesday and Thursday, on track–, Pedro Sánchez's team wants to recover the enthusiastic attitude prior to all this turmoil. Internally, but also among the membership. That is why they will have to roll up their sleeves, because the tragic accident in Toledo, the second one in less than a year on the high-speed rail, has left the railway in the State and its management battered. Among the socialist ranks, however, they believe they will achieve it. In addition to Valencia this Friday, Sánchez will hold events in Tarragona and Bilbao throughout the weekend.

The socialists will go out with their heads "held high," government sources indicate. The feeling at the Moncloa is that they did what was necessary: be transparent and provide explanations, offer solutions, and react with initial measures to reinforce safety on high-speed rail and try to recover, in this way, the public's trust. Furthermore, it was done quickly, they consider. Added to all this was Óscar Puente's stepping aside.

Although Pedro Sánchez was not in favor of the resignation, the minister reached the conclusion that once the explanations were given, the gesture that was required was to be "empathetic" with the victims and the families. "He got it right and it worked," explain sources consulted by the ARA, who acknowledge that there has been a shift from discouragement, especially among the most committed socialist militants, to a "proud" PSOE after Puente's gesture. The same sources believe that it has even turned the campaign around, a sort of turning point. Why? Because it places the socialists in what they consider to be "good politics" –assuming political responsibility in the face of a crisis marked by a tragic event– as opposed to the "bad politics" represented by the PP. The gesture itself, therefore, is seen as an electoral asset.

In fact, even before Óscar Puente's resignation, the socialists had begun to shore up a framework: that of political dignity in the face of a crisis. It serves them to contrast what they consider the PP has done in similar contexts. In the socialists' view: not showing their faces, not assuming political responsibility, and, instead, lecturing. Óscar Puente himself rejected the PP's requests when it asked him to resign.

An asset for the PSOE

In addition to leaving the Transport portfolio, Óscar Puente has resigned from being part of the socialist lists, which has been read as a move to protect the difficult campaign that was taking shape for Pedro Sánchez's party. "There was no other way," notes a voice close to the socialists. In fact, Puente's own circle pointed out last week that he would have a low profile during the electoral campaign. No one misses the fact that as Minister of Transport he was the ultimate person responsible, precisely, for the management of the railway network in the State, in which the socialists have boasted of having invested like never before.

Sánchez, however, loses an asset. Puente is one of the most political and biting profiles in the socialist ranks. In the party, they acknowledge that an aggressive profile has been lost, if not the most, although "there is no more weight," they say at Moncloa, than that held by Pedro Sánchez himself.

Second resignation before November 29

Puente's resignation joins that of Montse Mínguez, until recently a PSOE spokesperson, who submitted her resignation on October 16 following the scandal and the information published regarding her partner's real estate business. Mínguez was singled out by parties such as the PP and Junts just at the moment when the housing decrees resulting from the Maricarmen case were brought to Congress, which the members of Junts and the Popular Party struck down.

The "transitional" bet on Cuerpo for the Ministry of Transport is a 180-degree turn compared to Puente. The current first vice president of the Spanish government, who does not hold a PSOE membership card and will not be part of the November 29th lists, is a moderate profile with little political emphasis – though he has recently begun to exploit it. The big unknown is what role he will have during the election campaign. "He will go wherever he is required," indicate sources from his circle, who recall that he already participated in PSOE events in the last elections. For the moment, Pedro Sánchez has shown harmony with him in a video published a couple of weeks ago in which they both appeared running through a forest: "Let's go for four more [kilometers]!", they said, drawing a parallel with the possibility of continuing to govern after November 29th.

However, not only will train management be the focus of the early stages of the PSOE campaign. Other measures may also mark the agenda in the coming days. For example, the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage, now that the group of experts has already delivered an initial report with a proposal. The approval on November 12 of the housing decrees in the Permanent Deputation in Congress or the revaluation of pensions in 2027 with the CPI, which will be known, precisely, before the end of the election campaign. "In the United States, the cost of living has been very influential," say government sources. At Moncloa, they believe it will be key and that it will once again allow for the contrasting of two models: in this case, the private one, which they associate with the PP, and the public model, which they claim to champion. "On November 29th, a lot is at stake for us," they state.