A mass bath of his own and an “improvised” rally in his words. The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has been the protagonist of the main electoral act this Tuesday in Valladolid. Her visit to the booth on Calle Santiago was scheduled for 4:45 p.m., an appointment that has been delayed by half an hour, but some 200 members and supporters of the Popular Party have remained there, receiving her with applause and shouts of ‘president, Chairwoman’.
This is a slogan that has also been repeated at the doors of the Hotel Meliá, where the rally was organized, in which the PP candidate and president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, accompanied him. The leader of the autonomous PP crossed the pedestrian crossing to hug her and welcome her, and some passers-by even approached Mañueco to talk to him about Ayuso and the importance of his government. Already during the act, Mañueco has ceded the closing of the meeting to the Madrid president: “It is an act of chivalry”, the regional leader has thanked, aware that the candidate is pulling her to counteract the polls despite the internal war that he maintains with the leader of his party.
She is not a candidate, during the pandemic she has had some disagreements with the current president-candidate because they represented two opposing profiles when managing the health crisis – while one was committed to opening everything, the other was in favor of curfews – but this Tuesday she was the star. After the meal, Ayuso greeted some surprised passers-by or bar customers who were drinking on the terraces. She has also walked – along with a large retinue of PP officials and affiliates, but without Mañueco – through a couple of streets in Valladolid – deserted because at that time the small shops rest – to the booth on Santiago street. Some already know: they want Ayuso to be the future president of the Government of Spain. “He is already voted for,” jokes one of the attendees, affiliated with the Popular Party, who also assures that Mañueco is the candidate he likes “for this land.”
Three visits in campaign
This is the third time that Ayuso has gone to Castilla y León on an electoral campaign, and this afternoon he will be in Ávila. This Tuesday was a trip that was not scheduled a priori, but given the poor results expected by the polls for the PP -which could not govern alone-, Mañueco has turned to Ayuso to combat the rise of Vox. The candidate, who since he called elections embraced all the speech of the “freedom” regional president, has given him all the protagonism in the streets.
Ayuso has been close to people, has greeted and even taken photos with a dog named Ollie, who has not lacked caresses in front of his young owner and the press. Another young man carried a sign with a heart that said: ‘I love you Ayuso’ and asked him for a photo, which a more than smiling regional president has granted him. Some supporters agreed to applaud while others asked for a photo.
“They have tried to divide us and that is senseless,” Ayuso stressed at an “improvised” rally, according to her. “We have a lot at stake in Sunday’s elections. The fact that between provinces and communities we continue to walk together as brothers is the most important thing we have to do from here forward,” said Ayuso from the PP stand.
The president of the PP has claimed “that political inventions” and their own “mistakes” continue to divide them. “From the Community of Madrid you have many citizens who look at you with enthusiasm”, he assured, applauded by the members of the PP, who have responded with laughter “the treeeeece” when Ayuso has called the vote on February 23 by mistake .
Mariví is not affiliated, although several members of her family belong to the PP. She assures that what she likes most about Ayuso is “his management of him” and she has no doubts: if she had to choose between Mañueco and Ayuso, she would choose the latter. On February 13, she believes that the PP will win the elections but will need “help” to govern.
María Ángeles has arrived a little late, because although she lives in the center -and confesses to being a faithful PP voter- she thought that Ayuso would go later. She missed the rally, but she is clear that she loves Ayuso: “There is a virgin here in San Benito, who comes out on Easter Sunday, who laughs just like Isabel. I love her,” she points out. Next to her, María has come walking from the bullring to see Isabel Díaz Ayuso. She assures that she expected Ayuso to be taller. “She’s petite, huh? Ella Petty but bully,” she retorts.
His appearance and his closeness were also highly commented on. “She goes very simple. With a jacket and jeans,” says another walker to her interlocutor on the other end of the phone. Another woman who walks with her son in the stroller sums it all up: “It moves masses, of course.”
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