The first illusion is optical. It consists of believing that an electoral campaign in Andalusia implies environmental tension, social activism, and mass movements (of day laborer inspiration), which is the wet dream in the chanceries of all political parties. It is not true. Forget the clichés. Andalusians will go to vote in these regional elections with obvious reluctance – the historical average records a chronic abstention rate of over 40% of the census – and without excessive enthusiasm. One in three citizens called to the polls will not even set foot in the polling station. They have other plans and better things to do. It is therefore advisable to bring the ball down to earth. The electoral battle of May 17 will essentially be a war between politicians and their assimilated. It is not that there are few: San Telmo was the watering hole for three generations of socialist families during the PSOE hegemony, just as, for the past eight years, it has been for the PP, the brotherhood of the Holy Propaganda and the usual friends of the jury. The rest of the Andalusians, who, as good southerners, are not willing to call Moreno ‘Juanma’ – that’s at home – nor to believe in Montero’s tall tales, a candidate by force, without her own message and with a makeshift team, will watch the parade of electoral vanities with the TV muted. For some it is irrelevant; for others, a colossal comedy. Life is like that: undulating.
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The candidates hope to come out of the ordeal intact. We will not say that all are driven by illusion, but without a doubt they have hope, which is the theological virtue necessary – along with faith and charity – to believe in eternal life. The religious analogy is pertinent: the next fifteen days will be a catechesis before an audience that shows no interest nor is moved. Seville is not Madrid nor Barcelona. Those who hang regionalist flags on balconies – with the Umayyad white and hopeful green – are a minority, and only those interested in keeping their position and salary and those obliged (by organic discipline) attend political events.
May 17 is an exercise in resignation: there will be a single five-way debate on television and infinite soliloquies
May 17, deep down, is an exercise in resignation. There will be a single five-way electoral debate on television and infinite partisan soliloquies. Some will sell us that (with them) Andalusia is the Tuscany of the Quattrocento. Others will reply that (without them) it has become a large cotton plantation. Nothing surprising: an electoral campaign consists of exaggerating, pretending, and deceiving.
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The Most Reverend Moreno and the Argonaut Maíllo (IU) opened in Seville, “Rome triumphant in spirit and nobility,” the coda of May 17. The first staged his little theater of wonders in the Murillo Gardens; the second arranged the puppets in the Alameda de Hércules. Montero (PSOE) preferred the snowy shelter of a hotel in Granada, the encarregat Gavira (Vox) took refuge in Cádiz, and José Ignacio García (Adelante) chose modern Málaga to preach his green carriage Trotskyism. All dreamed last night of the Quirinale on their first (electoral) night in Middle-earth.
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