He will appear publicly this Monday after negotiating the conditions of his departure with the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The PP has been unable to shelve the problem in time so that it does not overshadow the beginning that begins this Monday and to which Genoa wanted to give all the prominence. It won’t be like that. After Dana’s state funeral last Wednesday, a poker game started between the Valencian baron and the national leadership of Feijóo that has altered the plans. And in the light of the spotlights. The party has plunged into confusion and anger waiting to find out the solution that, according to the PP, can only be bad. “How did we get here?”, indignant leaders at all levels ask.
Feijóo and Mazón spoke several times this Sunday. It will be the president of the Generalitat who will report this Monday on the result of this negotiation in a public appearance, as transmitted late on Sunday by sources from both the national leadership and the PP of the Valencian Community, in a brief statement, which did not give more details.
Mazón spent the entire weekend, together with his closest team, a very small work group, on what to do in the next few hours at the head of the Valencian Community. Then he negotiated the conditions with Feijóo. According to different PP sources, Mazón has accelerated his departure from the Generalitat. And this despite the fact that he preferred to hold out until the end of the legislature, but announcing that he would not be the next candidate. His to a man he trusts, the president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicente Mompó.
The poker game with Genoa began on Friday. That day, the general secretary of the PPCV, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, ombudsman of the party in Les Corts Valencianes, and the three provincial presidents of the party, in turn presidents of the provincial councils, Vicent Mompó (Valencia), Marta Barrachina (Castellón) and Toni Pérez (Alicante), met in Alicante to discuss the steps that could be taken. They are all leaders close to Mazón. The president of the Generalitat had already decided that he would not repeat as a candidate in the Palau and who would later be his successor. The agreement was that everyone unanimously supported Mompó as a consensus figure and thus they would convey it to the national leadership of the party.
This movement by the leadership of the Valencian PP, which immediately spread to the media, implied two things: that Mazón would stay until 2027, since Mompó could not succeed him as president because he is not a deputy in the Valencian Cortes; and that he president He prevented his successor from being the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, the one preferred by Génova.
The Valencian baron wanted to place Mompó so that he could “take care of him”, since all his efforts are to “preserve the capacity”, say popular sources. “Mazón is obsessed with the fact that the Catarroja judge is going after him and he could end up in jail,” reasons a leader aware of his strategy. Since Catalá is not related to presidentwith her at the helm there would be no guarantee of maintaining the capacity.
The problem is that this movement by the leadership of the Valencian PP was made public before Genoa had given its approval. And the leader of the PP was forced to make a move in the face of insubordination of that caliber. Furthermore, the candidate from Genoa has always been the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, and not Mompó.
Génova reacted by announcing on Sunday, by surprise, that Feijóo would speak with Mazón about the future of the Valencian Community, which indicated that the leader was taking charge of the crisis.
Mazón will announce this Monday the result of an agreement with Feijóo, judging by the fact that both Génova and the Valencian PP reported this Sunday that the president He would explain everything at his appearance. Different scenarios have been handled, one of which consists of Mazón resigning and the PP trying to invest a president transition until 2027. In that case, the best placed are the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, and the general secretary of the Popular Party of the Valencian Community, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, both deputies. Mazón and his like-minded people prefer Pérez Llorca, because he is one of their own.
The problem with this path is that it depends on Vox, because the PP does not have a majority in the Valencian Cortes. The extreme right is benefiting from the erosion of the PP, so a difficult negotiation with the ultras is to be expected. With the condition that, if the candidate president If he is not elected in the second vote, the region would be forced into regional elections two months after this investiture session.
The second possibility that has been on the table is that Mazón resigns as president and dissolve the Valencian Cortes for a call for early elections. This formula would leave the way open for the candidacy of Vicente Mompó, because it would not be necessary for him to be a deputy.
The most costly solution for Feijóo would be for the Valencian president to opt for resistance. Resist until the end of the legislature, in 2027, but with the public announcement that. The party would remain in the hands of a manager until the next congress that could elect Mompó as leader.
The Valencian baron arrives without power and cornered by the progress of the judicial investigation and journalistic information. As EL PAÍS published, a dark hour remains on Mazón’s itinerary on the day of the Dana catastrophe, between approximately 6:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. In that period of time, 80 people died of the 229 who perished in the floods.
All roads also face possible interference from Vox and the Valencian PP opening its doors. Former president Francisco Camps is also running as successor.
The PP awaits with expectation, anger and confusion Mazón’s announcement, which for many comes too late. “What a weekend farce,” complains a territorial leader. “In politics these things are done in private, and when you have the solution, you communicate it.” “Now it is difficult to resolve, we know that Mazón is leaving, but now we have to do it well so as not to put the Valencian Government at risk,” says a baron, who regrets that “everything has been very hasty.”
The territories are wary of a possible early electoral call in the Valencian Community that could alter the PP’s electoral cycle, with elections in Extremadura (December 21), Castilla y León (March 15) and Andalusia (June). “So we went from winning the elections in those three places, to losing the Valencian Community along the way?”, a leader asks angrily.
