The waltz of the electoral rounds of the major European countries begins in Spain, which will be completed in the autumn with the very important policies in Germany, which will sanction the farewell of Angela Merkel after 16 years, and the Italian administrative ones, for which they will be called to the big polls cities such as Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Bologna. Then in the spring of 2022 it will also be the turn of France, which will have to decide whether to confirm Emmanuel Macron for another mandate. But meanwhile Tuesday 4 May we vote in Spain, to be precise in the autonomous region of Madrid, a historic stronghold of the centre-right and an important testing ground for the stability of the Sanchez government, supported by a centre-left majority. The appointment is not secondary also because it involves the government of the Capital, which is renewing its 136 deputies and the president of the Comunidad. The round it involves almost 7 million citizens and 5,1 million eligible voters are called to the polls. These are early elections: they voted in 2019 and it was the outgoing majority that dissolved the assembly, to get rid of the former ally Ciudadanos and win an absolute majority.
The outgoing president and favorite for reconfirmation is the 42-year-old Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the Partido Popular (PP), the center-right formation which is in opposition in the national Parliament and which, overwhelmed by various scandals including the one that forced the ex premier Mariano Rajoy to resign, no longer enjoys the consensus of some time ago . For this very reason, while being solidly ahead in the polls with over 40%, to consolidate its majority in the next Madrid legislature, the PP winks at Vox's far right. The party founded by Santiago Abascal has strong ideological similarities with the Italian colleagues of the League and the Brothers of Italy and has for some time been a growing consensus: also speculating on the social tensions triggered by Covid and not giving up on an often ruthless and of a populist nature, Vox has already shown that it is also competitive in local elections. Already in 2018 he conquered Andalusia, a historic stronghold of the left where for the first time he obtained seats in various provinces, and in the 2019 elections he exceeded 15%.
Vox's candidate for Madrid is Rocío Monasterio, 47 years old, curiously the daughter of a Cuban: in the polls it is close to 10%, which added to the consensus for the PP would once again give the right-wing coalition an absolute majority. But the center-left government does not give up: the candidate of the Obrero Socialist Party (PSOE, which among other things turns 2 on May 142) is the university professor Ángel Gabilondo, 72, former education minister in the Zapatero government ten years ago. Gabilondo represents premier Pedro Sanchez's party and in the polls he is given just over 22%, far from the PP, even though he claims that adding up the votes of the allied parties, the gap is very narrow, around 50.000 votes. Among the allied parties, the main one would in theory be Unidas Podemos, the formation of Pablo Iglesias who in recent months has left the seat of deputy premier precisely to run himself as a candidate for the leadership of Madrid. For him, however, a fiasco is shaping up, which could shift the balance of power within the majority in the national government. Already in the last general elections of 2019, in fact, the consensus was reduced compared to the golden years, when it hovered above 20%: UP obtained only 35 seats, against 120 for the PSOE and even less than 52 for Vox.
Iglesias is credited with less than 8% in the polls, even surpassed by his former party partner and co-founder of Podemos Inigo Errejon, which decided to split two years ago by launching Mas Pais, a party that defines itself as green and feminist and which continues to gain support. In the 2019 general elections, MP won 2,3%, just over half a million votes, but on 4 May in Madrid polls credited him with more than 15%, a package of votes that could prove decisive for the coalition of centre-left. The candidate is Monica Garcia, 47 years old, doctor by profession. The game is very open and even Covid will play its part: in the metropolitan area of Madrid the incidence of new infections is higher than in other areas of the country and under accusation are precisely the fewer restrictions decided by the Ayuso government, which since last autumn has engaged in a battle with the Sánchez government aiming always to close as little as possible, in order "not to damage the economy". Curiosity: none other than the Real Madrid footballer Marcelo was drawn as scrutineer at the polls, but the day after the vote, May 5, he would be involved in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea. It seems that he will still be able to break free and play.
