The head of the Madrid government wants to exploit the blockade fatigue

At a recent campaign stop, as he made five school students by the bars of the classroom windows, the rising star of Spanish politics linked the increase in his support to the desire to be free. of Madrid.

“It’s a bit like an explosion, from all social classes, from all corners of society, in favor of freedom, in response to such a difficult time,” Isabel Díaz Ayuso He told the Financial Times, referring to the impact of the pandemic on Madrid and the fatigue of voters due to government restrictions.

The 42-year-old is a phenomenon that eclipses the national leader of his conservative popular party, Pablo Casado, the series of attempts to reposition itself contrasts with the clear ideological message, charisma and semi-skeptical stance of Díaz Ayuso on the curved curbs.

“Freedom” is the reason for his campaign: the only word flowing on his party’s banners as he seeks re-election as head of Madrid’s regional government in a May 4 vote that overshadows the rest of national life .

Polls suggest that Díaz Ayuso will virtually double his seat count in the regional assembly – increasing the PP’s vote by almost 20 percentage points – although he may need the far-right party Vox to get a majority. Analysts argue that the consequences of this success will be profound and felt nationally.

“The Madrid elections are set to determine the future of the right in Spain,” said Máriam Martínez-Bascuñán, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Madrid. “Ayuso presents his own model of conservative politics, more to the right, even in the Trump style, in the way he comes up with eye-catching statements and distracts from discussions about politics.”

In the speech of Diaz Ayuso two subjects stand out: the inferiority of the left and the superiority of Madrid.

When Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the radical left group Podemos, stop smoking Díaz Ayuso, in his position as deputy prime minister to run in the Madrid race to bolster his party’s fortunes, exclaimed: “Spain owes me one.” On another occasion, he joked: “When people call you a fascist, you know. . . you are on the right side of history “.

He has previously complained that it is “very unfair to treat Madrid like other regions” and last week said that part of what made Madrid so free was that “you can change partners and your ex will never find you again” .

“You shouldn’t compare Ayuso to Thatcher or Merkel, but more to Reagan,” a former PP minister said. “He connects with people, he comes out with memorable phrases, he has charisma.”

Diaz Ayuso was little known when she won the post in Madrid for the first time two years ago after an election in which the Socialists led the poll but proved incapable of forming a coalition.

Ridiculed in the past as the woman who among other duties he had run the Twitter account of a former Madrid boss pet dog, in this race, has trained the fire against his socialist rival, but the leader of his party: the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez.

Díaz Ayuso is one of the few regional leaders in Western Europe who has fought what he represents as excessive coronavirus sidewalks, moving closer than many of his counterparts to the skeptical stance taken by the governors of Western Europe. Texas, Florida i South Dakota in the US.

His critics say he let infection rates get in the way Out of reach after a long period of PP rule during which there was insufficient investment in the healthcare system.

Although at the beginning of the pandemic, the Madrid region, at 6.6 million euros, had one of the worst rates of coronavirus infection and mortality in Europe, the current incidence is one of the highest in Spain, but far below levels in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Poland.

“Madrid’s population density means that if we had a zero level of infection, people would not make a living,” Diaz Ayuso said. “So we have opted for an intermediate model that works, so that people can continue to live their lives and not be ruined for life, but there are still restrictions…. For example, it is very difficult for Madrid to close. at 11 pm Probably in other provinces, everything ends at eight in the evening ”.

Díaz Ayuso triggered the elections after two years of an awkward coalition with the centrist party Ciudadanos. In this race, the support of this group seems to have fallen, with the PP winning almost all its votes. The election also seems set to give sad news to Iglesias and Podemos leftists, who are now in fifth place.

Meanwhile, opinion polls suggest the Socialists are losing votes for an advanced left-wing party called More Madrid. A humble defeat against Díaz Ayuso in such an outstanding race would do nothing to increase the political capital of the Sánchez government, although the left still holds out hope that the combined forces of the PP and Vox will be below the majority.

Socialists now say the election boils down to a choice between “fascism and democracy,” a reference to the possible crucial role Vox could play in propping up Diaz Ayuso after the vote.

The turmoil caused by the race could also affect Díaz Ayuso’s own PP, a party in which his profile seems to rise even further. One poll last week he indicated that in a general election Casado, the national leader of the PP, could only get the support of three-quarters of Díaz Ayuso’s voters.

This was the message that came during the recent campaign stop of the head of Madrid, in a Catholic school. “I like what he does for Madrid; my husband still has a job because he hasn’t closed the Hospital industry“Said Maria, a kitchen staff member who had just taken a picture with Diaz Ayuso.” Compared to Casado, I would definitely win more votes. “