Margarita Robles will be second on the PSOE list for Madrid in the 29 November general election, behind Pedro Sánchez. Félix Bolaños is third; Fernando Grande-Marlaska takes fifth place.
On 14 October, the Madrid PSOE organisation approved its 38-candidate slate for the general election on 29 November. Pedro Sánchez will lead the list, with Defence Minister Margarita Robles in second place. Félix Bolaños is third. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska takes fifth.
PSOE-M organisation secretary Pilar Sánchez Acera is fourth. Europa Press reported Robles’s position, though the party’s federal bodies were still due to ratify the regional candidacy.
Robles held the same position on the party’s Madrid list in the June 2016 election.
The dispute over the National Intelligence Centre’s role followed events in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July during the migration crisis. Grande-Marlaska said publicly that the CNI had warned of the risk of a mass entry, prompting a clash in accounts with Robles. Criticism came from within and outside the PSOE.
On 25 August, Robles told Congress that the CNI had collected information and shared it with Spain’s security forces and the Government Delegation in Ceuta. The disagreement concerned what the information contained and who received it. It also concerned whether the material indicated the scale of the expected events. On 18 September, Robles visited CNI headquarters and presented awards to several employees.
Sánchez and three ministers occupy four of the slate’s first five places. After Pilar Sánchez Acera, the list names Manuela Villa and Rafael Simancas. Aránzazu Figueroa of the Socialist Youth and Borja Cabezón follow.
Lorena Morales and Vicente Montávez come next, followed by Elena Arafat and Víctor Gutiérrez. Carmen Martínez Pascual and Ángel Viveros are also on the list. Sonia Conejero and Jorge Donaire follow them.
Rosario Aguilar and José Ángel Chamorro appear further down. The next names are María Sáinz and Rubén Ranz, followed by Mª Josefa Pascual and Óscar Díaz. Rim Mazouzi and Gabriel Dorado are also named. The 38 places in the Congress list include further candidates beyond those listed here.
The slate was announced against a campaign backdrop in which the CIS October barometer put the PSOE at 34% and the PP at 22.2%, according to an October polling report.
Other ministers will lead PSOE lists elsewhere. José Manuel Albares will head the list in Cádiz, while Jordi Hereu will lead in Barcelona. Óscar Puente is set to head the Valladolid list, with Equality Minister Ana Redondo in second place.
In Valencia, Government delegate Pilar Bernabé will lead the list. Finance Minister Arcadi España is second, followed by PSOE Organisation Secretary Rebeca Torró. Congress president Francina Armengol will head the list in the Balearic Islands. Democrata reported that the party’s preparations also put senior figures and ministers at the head of lists in several constituencies.
In Castilla-La Mancha, Education Minister Milagros Tolón will lead the list in Toledo despite opposition from regional president Emiliano García-Page. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez will head the PSOE list in Ciudad Real.
