Óscar López steps down from the PSOE list for Congress and points to Ayuso: "All my energies are going to go into achieving change in Madrid"

Óscar López has made a decision about his immediate future. The Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function and general secretary of the PSOE of Madrid will not be on the lists for Congress for the general elections on November 29. He wants to concentrate his efforts on challenging Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the Presidency of the Community of Madrid in 2027, after working during the campaign for Pedro Sánchez to remain at the head of the Government.

"I am not going to run, Esther," he replied in "Malas Lenguas", the La 2 program, when Esther Palomera asked him if he would run for Congress. López explained that he had "thought about it a lot" and that he had chosen to focus on Madrid. "I believe that Madrid and Mrs. Ayuso represent the worst politics, the worst of all. All my energies will go to achieving change in Madrid," he stated.

The socialist leader recalled that Sánchez will lead the PSOE candidacy for Madrid. He will continue at the head of the party in the community and will participate in the general campaign, but he wanted to make his next objective clear. The decision prevents his aspiration to govern Madrid in 2027 from coexisting with a new seat in Congress.

"The PP has surrendered to Vox"

López has been especially harsh regarding the suspicions of "rigging" that leaders of the PP and Vox have launched regarding mail-in voting. Before Palomera and Gonzalo Miró, he compared that discourse to the one used by Donald Trump in the United States to cast doubt on election results. In his opinion, questioning the system before the polls open can demobilize voters and prepare a political challenge to the result if it does not favor the right.

"The PP has surrendered to Vox. It is magnifying Vox's discourse," he stated. After hearing Alberto Núñez Feijóo's statements about Correos officials, he described his words as "very serious" and "irresponsible." He added that he is surprised that a party that governs numerous institutions thanks to this very electoral system now contributes to sowing doubts about its functioning.

The minister recalled a distinction that has been partly lost in the debate of these days. Mail-in votes cast by voters residing in Spain arrive at their polling stations and are incorporated into the election night count. The vote of Spaniards residing abroad, known as CERA vote, follows another counting calendar. López pointed out that this external vote managed to modify the distribution of seats for Madrid in the 2023 general elections.

He also responded to the PP's complaint to the Central Electoral Board regarding Sánchez's press conference after the Council of Ministers. López considers it worrying that an institutional appearance in which journalists ask the president about his Government's decisions is denounced. "A party must be in a bad situation to make an issue of this," he said.

Housing, left-wing unity and the battle of Madrid

The interview also addressed the reason for the early election. López defended the Government's actions on housing, although he admitted, when asked about Maricarmen's eviction, that he could have done more. He cited the Housing Law, rent-controlled areas, the elimination of so-called "golden visas" and the increase in resources for the state plan. From there, he placed the discussion in Congress, where the measures the Executive wanted to approve had fallen through.

For the minister, Junts' rejection of the housing decrees explains the call for 29N and gives meaning to the request for a broader parliamentary majority. He linked that campaign to the discontent of those who work but still have difficulty paying rent. In Madrid, he described the cost a family faces when other basic expenses are added to housing. His reading is that this discontent can mobilize voters who have been watching their daily lives become more expensive for years.

Palomera also asked him about the negotiations between Podemos and the Broad Front parties. López avoided intervening in the distribution of candidacies, although he acknowledged the importance of the left-wing parties to the left of the PSOE resolving their alliance. "I believe they will do it and that they will do it well," he said. Asked specifically about Podemos' entry, he left the answer in the hands of the organizations involved.

Regarding the amnesty and the possible return of Carles Puigdemont during the campaign, López defended the Government's decision for its effects on coexistence in Catalonia. He assured that he does not care who might benefit electorally. He also refused to speculate on Sánchez's future if he fails to revalidate the Government. "I am not going to dedicate a single minute to the day after. This is about winning," he concluded.

The final stretch brought the conversation back to Ayuso. Palomera asked him about the new book by the Madrid president and López responded with irony. "I will ask for a summary, because I don't know what the literary quality will be like," he said before listing the issues that, in his opinion, she should explain, including the management of residences during the pandemic and the real estate controversies affecting her Government and her entourage.

Miró then raised the difficulty of ending three decades of PP governments in Madrid. López acknowledged that the left must also answer for its defeats and pointed to differences in participation between neighborhoods as one of the keys to the upcoming regional campaign. He closed the interview with a prediction for 29N. Asked about the party that will get the most votes, he answered without hesitation: "Pedro Sánchez and the Socialist Party".