His “number two” designation usually creates a headache for all candidates for the presidency of the government. It serves as a door from the outside to see where the shots are going or to balance from the inside. Pedro Sánchez chose Meritxell Batet as a signal for Catalonia and later Margarita Robles as a star signing. In the case of United We Can, Pablo Iglesias chose Carolina Bescanza for the first generals, but disagreements within the party brought Irene Montero to the position in 2019. The PP has traditionally put heavyweights in this position related to the economy, for example. Rodrigo Rato or Manuel Pizarro, or with those who intended to emphasize their political message, such as the signature of Adolfo Suarez Ilana.
Alberto Núñez Feijo now distanced himself from this line by Marta Rivera de la Cruz, the former Ciudadanos sponsored by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, whose Minister of Culture he was, first at the suggestion of Albert Rivera and, later, in the government. alone. The maneuver is, in principle, aimed at ‘fishing’ for voters who went to Ciudadanos and that they serve to balance names such as Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, which drag him to the far right of the board.
The play is risky. The newspaper library haunts him. Rivera de la Cruz referred to Feijo just four years ago as “the catacism of the 21st century”. He complained that “teleFeijóo”, referring to regional television, left Ciudadanos outside the electoral space and accused the current PP leader of “doping the elections, wiping out those who can erase votes from the map”. In an election debate in 2015, she questioned the existence of sexist violence, calling it a “cosmetic measure” that had different punishments.
Feiyoo’s choice surprised himself and others. Rivera de la Cruz was José Luis Martínez-Almeida’s “number two” in the May 28 municipal elections, and after he was invested with an absolute majority, he appointed him as the capital’s culture delegate when his leader had already invited him to Congress. “I didn’t expect it, I was surprised. I’m not going to deny it. I think it’s a decision that suits Feijo and it’s a very good choice. Let’s wait and see what happens on July 23, let’s hope Feijo. He wins them and then he will be responsible for making decisions,” he said. The mayor said in a press conference after the first meeting of the governing council.Therefore, Rivera de la Cruz’s role remains to be determined both in the election campaign and in her future after the election.
Rivera de la Cruz, therefore, comes down with a difficult baggage that collides with the “number two” that preceded him. But how did they age? Is the choice of tandem so important?
In the 1990s, José María Aznar thought so, and that is why he chose Rodrigo Rato in 1993 and 1996. A career economist, he carried considerable political weight as a speaker in Congress, and Aznar sent a message of solvency in the economy. In fact, in the election campaign in which he prevailed over the Socialists, he signaled that he would create a “super ministry of economy and finance” that he would leave in their hands. In the first election, Felipe González chose a brand new judge, Baltasar Garzón, who was later the government’s delegate to the National Drug Plan as Secretary of State and, once he returned to his judicial career, promoted the court’s case. Gal.
Rato, who was recognized at the time as the architect of the “Spanish economic miracle” that later turned into a bubble that was repeated in tandem with Aznar in 2000. In 2004, after losing the battle to succeed Mariano Rajoy, he remained in the position before leaving for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After his time abroad, he headed the defunct Caja Madrid and Bankia, from which he resigned two days before being bailed out by the government.
Now he collects legal cases, such as the Caja Madrid “black” card case, discovered by elDiario.es. After passing through the prison, they now shout about their former comrades.
Rajoy also chose an economic profile in 2008 with Manuel Pizarro joining the PP, coinciding with his candidacy. He was an adviser to the Ministry of Economy under Aznar, but above all he devoted himself to private business as president of Endesa, which paid him 14 million just for severance compensation.
Pizarro resigned as director of Telefónica to accompany Rajoy, who left the weight of economic policy on him during the election campaign. The financial crisis was beginning, and Pizarro faced the then economy minister, Pedro Solbes, in a debate, which he lost according to the polls. But the electoral defeat changed the plans of the economist, who left the seat after only one year. He continued to be linked to PP through FAES, but with a very low profile.
Rajoy didn’t count on Pizarro when he managed to get to Moncloa in 2011. In this election, he has already included Soraya Saenz de Santamaria as an electoral “ticket”. He was the Speaker of the Parliament and acquired a significant political profile “opposing” Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. She was the first woman to hold this position on the PP list and she did it while pregnant. In fact, she gave birth in the middle of the campaign.
Sáenz de Santamaria retained this position in 2015 (and in the 2016 re-election) already as the all-powerful vice-president of the government and in open conflict with María Dolores de Cospedal. The loss of power in 2018 through a motion of no confidence intensified this clash, and the two took the leadership of the party with Pablo Casado, who eventually accepted it thanks to the support of Cospedal, who lost the battle. Despite winning more votes than the militants, Sáenz de Santamaria lost and went private with the Cuatrecasas law firm. Later, Sánchez placed him in the Council of State.
Casado chose Adolfo Suarez Ilana, the son of the former prime minister, as a tandem at a time when he had two strong rivals in Ciudadano and Vox. The fact that he was the candidate for Castilla-La Mancha was a priori a good profile for the contest, as his father figure is a moderate, but he had no problem defending dictator Francisco Franco’s supposed contribution to democracy. The then leader of the opposition entrusted him with the ideological convention of the PP.
The party leadership reserved for him a position at the Congress table, from where he acted in embarrassing moments, such as turning his back on the speaker of EH Bildu. But Suarez’s Ilana, for whom Casado created an ad hoc fund, was not his first option, as he had previously tried it with María San Gil.
And it is that Casado wanted, in fact, to accompany a moderate profile. For this reason, in the November 2019 election rerun, he relegated Ilana Suarez to the third place and put the former president of the Congress and the former minister Anna Pastor in front. Again, in the opposition, both of them held respective positions in the Parliament Council, which represents an important economic stimulus.
Suarez Ilana left politics in 2022, while the pastor endures and Feijo finished him at the top of Pontevedra’s list. The former minister, who was part of Casado’s leadership, was one of many leaders who betrayed him in an infighting that ended in his surprise defeat and the anointing of the Galician.
Source: El Diario
