Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca will face the regional policy debate without confirmation as the PP candidate. Complaints about people around him have slowed the decision and extended the Valencian party's organisational crisis.
On 22 September, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca said he was "absolutely calm" about the nomination. He also denied discussing it with Miguel Tellado during their meeting in Madrid. The PP still had not formalised his candidacy between 21 and 26 September, Europa Press reported.
He will enter Monday's Debate on General Policy without a guarantee that he will lead the PP into the next Valencian elections. Génova delayed the decision after receiving internal complaints about people close to the president.
The delay has left the regional party without a confirmed leader. Its temporary management body has also run past the timetable set by the party's statutes.
The uncertainty is now visible on the party calendar.
The PP's National Board will approve a series of regional and provincial congresses for October and November. Galicia, the Community of Madrid, Murcia, Cantabria and the Canary Islands are included. Provincial congresses are planned in Andalusia, Catalonia and the Basque Country. The Community of Valencia is missing.
On 22 September, Pérez Llorca said he was absolutely calm about the nomination and denied that he had discussed it with Miguel Tellado during their Madrid meeting.
That omission is more than a routine scheduling choice. Génova must extend the mandate of the management committee installed in December. Its term expired on 14 July under the party's statutory deadlines.
A regional congress could reopen the internal fight that has divided one of the PP's key federations. Europa Press and elDiario.es reported that the Valencian PP still had no date for the congress. The national leadership therefore has greater control over party management and candidate selection.
The reason is simple. Complaints focus on Pérez Llorca's circle.
Internal rivals have questioned the people who worked close to him during the government of Carlos Mazón. One of the names raised is lawyer David Serra, a former senior figure in the Valencian PP.
Serra was convicted in 2018 of electoral offences and falsifying a public document in a Gürtel financing case. He received a sentence of three years and eight months. He did not go to prison.
Before the debate, Consell spokesperson Miguel Barrachina said Pérez Llorca arrived with all his homework done, citing the approval of the 2026 budget and several agreements. The regional government was also advancing a draft land law to replace LOTUP, with at least 50% of the residential floor area in new public planning instruments reserved for protected housing.
Serra now works as a lawyer. The source material describes him as an influential adviser to the president. His firm, Estudi General Advocats i Assesor SLP, was hired by Finestrat Town Hall for 192,000 euros when Pérez Llorca was mayor.
The two men have been friends for years. Serra's wife, Magdalena González de la Red, is vice-president of Les Corts and belongs to the president's trusted parliamentary circle.
Serra also helped shape Pérez Llorca's team at the Generalitat. That role earned him the nickname "the 12th conseller". He is linked to the Alicante clan of the PP. The group includes Pérez Llorca, La Nucia mayor Bernabé Cano, whose sister Marián Cano is the industry councillor, and Javier Sendra, the regional secretary for infrastructure and mayor of Planes.
Sendra has been a key figure in awards for emergency works carried out without public tenders after the dana disaster of 29 October 2024. Génova has made inquiries about the allegations surrounding Pérez Llorca's wider political network. It has also requested explanations.
Those inquiries slowed the national timetable.
Feijóo's secretary-general, Miguel Tellado, is not considered close to Pérez Llorca. The president has carried resentment from the period when he served as Mazón's number two in the party.
That history gives the national decision added weight. Pérez Llorca is waiting for political backing while internal alternatives draw attention. After the Madrid meeting, the PP said the two men had discussed ordinary matters affecting the Valencian region and the PPCV. The party did not present the meeting as confirmation of the candidacy.
Vicente Mompó, president of Valencia's provincial government and the provincial PP, is mentioned as a possible rival. Susana Camarero, the Generalitat's vice-president and a former secretary of state, is another name in circulation.
No clear replacement has emerged. Pérez Llorca is still the most likely choice if Génova finds no stronger option.
The delay is unsettling parts of the Valencian party. Local voices say the prolonged provisional arrangement damages the brand, gives opponents material to use and encourages succession manoeuvres.
The recent precedent offers little comfort. Alberto Fabra was confirmed as the PP candidate only two months before the May 2015 regional elections.
The problem goes beyond a delayed nomination. The same national leadership is withholding its final decision on the candidate and extending the body that runs the regional organisation.
That concentration of authority recalls the political dynamic described in an earlier media report, although the two cases involve different institutions.
For the Valencian PP, the picture is clear. Pérez Llorca remains the probable candidate, but he lacks formal approval. The regional structure remains temporary. Internal complaints are still shaping the timetable.
Génova may avoid an immediate congress battle. The delay carries its own cost. It exposes the federation's divisions before the election campaign has begun.
