Almost 1.5 million votes were obtained by Juanma Moreno in the Andalusian elections, only 9,900 less than Isabel Díaz Ayuso in the Madrid elections. Between them, three million voters. Moreno (1970) and Ayuso (1978) have managed to fit like a glove to the idiosyncrasy of their community. They have done so with opposite styles.
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It is known that Ayuso has political godfathers in José María Aznar (they share an advisor in the person of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez) and Esperanza Aguirre. But the one who promoted her candidacy was Pablo Casado, later ousted from the party by a mutiny led by the leader, hurt by the corruption accusations against her brother made by her former friend.
Less is known about Moreno’s story. Son of Andalusians who emigrated to Catalonia, his political mentor is the tireless Javier Arenas, who started as a councilor in 1983 and is still a senator at 68 years old, and Ana Mato. Moreno’s designation as a candidate was the result of a fierce battle between Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and María Dolores de Cospedal. The party’s secretary general tried to erode Arenas’ power in the Andalusian PP. She even resorted to Commissioner Villarejo for this. But this time Sáenz de Santamaría convinced Rajoy (to whom Arenas also whispered in the ear) that the Andalusian candidate had to be Moreno.
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In his first elections, he suffered a notable setback (from 50 to 33 seats), but he persisted, and the wear of the PSOE did the rest. Moreno is Sáenz de Santamaría’s “deferred” revenge, as Cospedal would say. Rajoy bet on the vice president as his heir, but was frustrated by the alliance of Casado and Cospedal.
Moreno seeks the feat of repeating the absolute majority. He needs to encourage his own without mobilizing the opponents, whether from the left or the far right. They say that to practice fencing you have to hold the foil as if it were a little bird, neither too hard (you could choke it) nor too loose (it would escape). If he succeeds, he will gain weight in the PP. He will consolidate himself as a counterpower to Ayuso. Feijóo needs both to reach Moncloa, but that balance is a good reason for him to wish success for his swordsman from the south, as well as to send the message that Vox has reached its ceiling and the PP is the useful vote to oust Pedro Sánchez.
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