The direct combat at the polls between PP and a Vox that has soared in the polls will take place earlier than expected: on December 21. The president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, signed this Monday the decree calling for early regional elections for that Sunday, prior to the Christmas holidays. The popular leader has made the move due to the manifest refusal of the entire opposition to support her Budgets and to “not waste the time of Extremadurans,” she noted in an extraordinary appearance offered this Monday afternoon. Guardiola thus anticipates Castilla y León, opens fire and . At least three will attend the elections in a staggered sequence: Extremadura, Castilla y León and Andalusia. It remains to be determined whether Aragón will join the rest after the ultras slammed the door to negotiate their public accounts with Jorge Azcón.
This Tuesday, the amendments to the entire Vox, PSOE and Unidas por Extremadura budgets presented by the Guardiola Government were scheduled to be voted on in the Extremadura Assembly. Since last Thursday, when the amendments were registered by the three parties, sources close to the regional Executive assured that the popular president.
Although the Accounts would continue their parliamentary path tomorrow if the vote on the total amendments did not succeed – as was foreseen – the fact that neither Vox nor PSOE withdrew their respective initiatives allowed Guardiola to call early elections upon confirming the blockage by the opposition. “An amendment to the entirety is already being radically against the Budgets,” the president of Extremadura stated along these lines on Monday afternoon.
After attending an awards ceremony for the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA) in Madrid in the morning, the Extremaduran president made an extraordinary appearance in Mérida to announce the decision around 7:00 p.m. The rule requires that the electoral appointment be scheduled at least 54 days after the dissolution of the Cortes. If Guardiola wanted them to take place on a Sunday and not enter the campaign at Christmas, he had to take the step now. During her speech, the popular leader gave a presentation on the reasons that led her to call Extremadurans to the polls early before revealing the exact day of the elections, December 21. The campaign will start on the 5th, coincidentally coinciding with the president’s “birthday,” she herself has indicated.
“Prolonging this blockade only benefits those who think more about the polls than about the people. Despite all this, we have asked the opposition groups to withdraw these amendments and resume dialogue,” the president indicated. “Without Budgets we do not have the tools to continue creating jobs and protecting families,” he added. This is the first electoral advance in the autonomous history of the region. “We are not going to allow a blockade because some of us are not here to hold on to the chair, we are here to transform Extremadura to promote the growth of this region. And if there is a moment in which the groups castle and do not allow this to happen, then it will have to be the citizens who speak out that democracy has tools for that, I am not afraid to listen to the Extremadurans,” he maintained.
When Guardiola had not finished speaking, sources in Genoa issued a statement in support of his decision. Immediately afterwards, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, reacted on the social network with Guardiola at the ATA awards.
The ruler who respects his people keeps his word and a basic principle: in the face of the blockade, elections.
All the support of a. Show responsibility and courage by putting Extremadurans first and I am sure they will reward you.
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo)
“Very clear”
The president prefaced the decision announcement with a long speech about the opposition’s blockade of the Accounts. “I want to be very clear. The Government of the Junta said that there were two paths: build or block. And we have decided at all times to build, to go ahead, to choose transparency, honesty, not to hold back any cards. With that spirit we invite the groups to dialogue to approve the largest Budget in the history of the region,” she assured.
Guardiola has stated that, for his part, “there has always been a hand extended” and that is why he invited “the presidents of the different parliamentary groups. The response I got was the absence of Vox and the general secretary of the Socialist Party in Extremadura. That mood of contempt has been maintained.”
