“In the coming weeks, as soon as the inauguration of the new head of government is completed, we will make the appropriate replacement in the party at the request of Mr. Mazzone.” This is how the leader of the People’s Party, Alberto Nunez Viejo, announced on Tuesday the imminent replacement of Carlos Mazzone as head of the party in the Valencian Community. However, Feijóo will not activate the regional conference immediately.
The PP leader wants Vox’s support to be linked first to the inauguration of Juan Francisco Pérez Jurca, Mazzone’s replacement. Negotiations with the Ultras Party continue and the deadline expires tomorrow, November 19. Pérez Jurca is Mazzone’s current “second-in-command” in the Valencian People’s Party, and will inherit the presidency of the Generalitats of Valenciana, after paying the ideological price demanded by the Ultras.
Figo did not reveal who Mazzone’s successor would be, nor the date of his replacement. In fact, Pérez Yurca was not his first choice to head the autonomous region. His favorite has always been the current mayor of Valencia, María José Catala, who does not have the support of the PPP. In fact, before Figo announced Pérez Jurca, he met with the three provincial presidents of the Valencian People’s Party, as well as the president of the Valencian Provincial Council, Vicente Mombo, who is running as a future candidate for state governorship.
There is even a factor whose occurrence cannot be measured in advance: Francisco Campes. The former state president is trying to return to the front of regional politics after being absent for several years after he was forced to resign due to the innumerable corruption cases that affected him. His acquittal in several cases has given him the strength to regain the position he had to leave, but Figo does not want to know anything about a name directly linked to the political scandals of the past 20 years.
But the electoral calendar also conflicts with the People’s Party’s strategy. On December 21, elections will be held in Extremadura, in Castile and León in March next year at the latest, and in June in Andalusia. An internal operation with unforeseen consequences does not appear to be the best scenario for the barons with impending appointments at the ballot box.
Mazzone’s closed defence
Feijóo reiterated his defense of Carlos Mazzone. Twenty-four hours after his appearance at the congressional investigative committee on Dana, the PP leader attacked the MPs of the parliamentary majority and their questioning of the still sitting state president.
“He has assumed his responsibilities at the highest level and resigned as president of the state of Valenciana,” Figo said after an event organized by Atresmedia. “He appeared in the Cortes and in Congress,” he said. The PP leader has once again ignored his own words two weeks ago. Ahead of the first anniversary of the Dana incident, which killed 229 people, Figo confirmed that Mazzone would be represented “in the Senate”, where the People’s Party has an absolute majority. Within 20 days, Feijóo’s promise was put away in a drawer.
“He showed his face,” defended Figo, who has maintained the strategy of blaming the central government for what happened in Valencia since Dana’s day. “It is time to find out why the government refused to build infrastructure that could have prevented the disaster,” the People’s Party leader said.
“Why G did not provide information to the General State” and “why the government left the Valencian government alone” remain to be resolved, Figo said, indicating that the PP will turn the Commission of Inquiry into Aldana, which is struggling in the Senate due to its absolute majority, into a weapon to be used against Pedro Sánchez.
“No politician from the Socialist Workers’ Party bore any share of the responsibility,” said Figo, who also criticized Mazzone’s appearance yesterday in Congress. “It is a tragedy, not a circus,” he said of interrogations by groups that support the government. “I deeply regret this because I believe it is disrespectful to the victims, the facts and the truth,” he concluded.
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