The Valencian PP agrees that Vicent Mompó will be the replacement for Carlos Mazón

BarcelonaCarlos Mazón's political career may be numbered. The booing he received from victims at the state funeral on the first anniversary of the DANA storm, in which the They called him a "murderer"This has marked a turning point for the Valencian president. Also significant are the new revelations made on Friday by the former Minister of the Interior, Salomé Pradas, who asserted that He informed them of the possibility of sending the alert to the public. During lunch at El Ventorro, Mazón has maintained that no one informed him or consulted him about sending that mass alert to the population. Against this backdrop, the PP leadership in the Valencian Community met on Friday to discuss replacing Mazón as PP leader, a move that could occur even before the elections scheduled for May 2027. According to sources within the political party, this was reported to EFE on Saturday. These same sources confirmed that the regional PP leaders in Valencia have already conveyed their support for Mompó, the current president of the Valencia Provincial Council, to the party's national leadership in Madrid. The decision was made amidst internal debate about the complicated situation the party is facing following the latest reports on Mazón's handling of the DANA storm. On Friday, in Alicante, the Secretary General of the PPCV, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, met; The party's spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament, and the three provincial party presidents, who also serve as presidents of their respective provincial councils—Vicent Mompó (Valencia), Marta Barrachina (Castellón), and Toni Pérez (Alicante)—met to discuss Mazón's replacement. A consensus candidate emerged from this meeting: Vicent Mompó, who has the support of the leadership in all three provinces and is positioning himself as the future Popular Party candidate. Mompó cannot be president of the Generalitat now because he is not a member of parliament, and therefore, Mazón would have to call early elections if he were to step down. This week, he stated that he was beginning a period of "reflection."

Feijóo is no longer closing ranks with Mazón

The PP's national leadership is no longer closing ranks with Mazón, and the party's spokesperson in Congress, Esther Muñoz, stated this week that "it is up to Mr. Mazón to make a decision." These statements contrast sharply with the unwavering support of Vox, the party that has benefited most in the polls. The national leadership has always favored the mayor of Valencia, Maria José Català, as Mazón's replacement, and the former Minister of Education could become president of the Generalitat (Valencian regional government) because she is already a member of parliament, thus eliminating the need for early elections. The provincial president of the PP in Alicante, Toni Pérez, told EFE that Mazón still holds the decision about his future in his own hands. Without taking a stance on whether Mazón should step down, Pérez admitted that it was a difficult week for the president and "for everyone," but acknowledged that they have been experiencing "difficult times for some time now, since the beginning of the crisis." In the midst of an internal crisis, Mazón has decided to suspend even the cabinet reshuffle he intended to announce this Wednesday, which was meant to signal the continuity of his term, following the departure of Second Vice President Francisco Gan Pampols. The debate surrounding Mazón's future as head of the Valencian PP and the Generalitat comes on the eve of Maribel Vilaplana's testimony this Monday. Vilaplana, who had lunch with the head of the Consell on October 29, 2024, could provide new information that further compromises the lunch at El Ventorro, although the situation was already completely out of control. The judge presiding over the case requested on Friday that Vilaplana provide her parking ticket from the lot where the president accompanied her after the lunch. According to information made public last week, Mazón accompanied Vilaplana to the parking lot around 6:45 p.m., when the torrential rains had already caused widespread damage and loss of life. and the Spanish government had already recommended sending the mass alert, as confirmed by the head of 112 this week.