Once established as the leading force in Castile and León With Vox performing less strongly than the polls predicted, the People's Party (PP) faces the challenge of forming a government. Their aspiration is to do so alone. However, shortly after the PP candidate, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, expressed his preference for a single-party government with external support from the far-right party, Santiago Abascal has dampened this possibility. The Vox leader responded that they want to govern, not only in Castile and León but also in Extremadura and Aragon. "If there is a programmatic agreement for government, measure by measure, yes [we will join]," Abascal asserted at a press conference this Monday, where he warned that he intends to be part of the governments of "all three regions." Will this demand be an obstacle? Despite maintaining that they govern better alone, the PP has not ruled out coalitions to avoid being caught out.

The People's Party (PP) called early elections in Extremadura and Aragon to highlight the Socialist Party's (PSOE) electoral decline and get rid of Vox. They achieved the first objective, but not the second: both María Guardiola and Jorge Azcón are now forced to reach an understanding with the far right to maintain power. And this will not be easy, especially in Extremadura, where Guardiola has been characterized by her back-and-forth with Santiago Abascal's party: from saying she prefers a PSOE abstention to embracing Vox's "feminism." After the national leadership disavowed the baroness Extremadura and urged him to make "less noise and more serious work," this Tuesday the party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called for a swift resolution to finalize agreements with Vox in the autonomous communities and return Spain "to the First World": "I will work so that what comes next is a source of pride, not disdain." He added: "People are doing their part for change, but we cannot allow the parties to fail." "We must organize the majority that has emerged from the ballot box, not fragment it."

The Spanish political system means that the management of services that affect citizens in their daily lives depends almost exclusively on the autonomous communities. However, the paradox is that public debate focuses almost exclusively on the Congress of Deputies and the central government. That is, until something like the DANA storm or the breast cancer screenings occur. It is then that PP voters discover that Pedro Sánchez isn't entirely to blame.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Castile and León will finally investigate the controversial handling of the August wildfires by Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, following a complaint filed by the Bierzo Aire Limpio (Clean Air Bierzo) Association against the president of the Castile and León regional government and his Minister of the Environment, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones. According to the document obtained by the EFE news agency, the Prosecutor's Office opened the investigation into alleged crimes of malfeasance by omission, environmental offenses, failure to provide assistance, and other offenses related to the inaction and deficient performance of the regional administration. "The regional government had all the information to anticipate the situation, but chose not to reinforce the operation, despite past experience," the association points out, also noting that after previous disasters (such as the 2022 fires), the firefighting operation was not reinforced, nor were resources allocated to fighting the fires increased. Regional Minister Suárez-Quiñones, for his part, recalled that several complaints were also filed after the 2022 fires, but they were dismissed. In fact, he asserted that after those fires, "very strong" decisions were made regarding investment and operations, but that this year's fires occurred under "unknown circumstances." "We will provide all the necessary explanations," he added.

With dozens of firefighters demanding his resignation at the doors of the regional parliament, the president of Castile and León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, attempted to defend himself this Friday regarding his handling of the fires that have burned thousands of hectares in his community. "I would have preferred to appear with the full report. What is happening is too important and real to make political calculations," said the regional leader of the PP, addressing the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) faction, which promoted his appearance in Parliament this morning and, along with several other parties, called for his resignation. Mañueco estimated the number of hectares affected by the fires at 141,000, which particularly affected the provinces of León and Zamora, after 348 fires in 23 days and three fatalities; the plenary session observed a minute of silence in his memory.

The road leading to the village of Lusío, in the León region of El Bierzo, is narrow, and the landscape that stretches out, once green and lush, is now terrifying. The great mountains have turned black, only the branches of the trees remain, and ash piles up. A pile of ash. The sign indicating the name of this town is charred, and a stroll through its streets is almost impossible; they are covered in rubble, and smoke from the constantly rekindling fires still wafts through the air. As far as the eye can see, everything is pitch black.

The PSOE argues that voting for its candidates is a "guarantee" that Vox will not enter the institutions, but will not even consider facilitating a PP government to prevent it in Castilla y León. The abstention of the socialists is a formula that would make it possible for the PP candidate, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, to govern alone and not to be in Vox's hands. There are even voices within PSOE and within Castilla y León that openly bring up this option, such as the mayor of Valladolid and former spokesman of the PSOE executive, Óscar Puente, although the national party rules it out. "This scenario has been brought about by the PP leading citizens to interested elections in which it sought to govern alone at the risk of the far right entering government," the current spokesman, Felipe Sicilia, argued.