The PSOE cools down Zapatero's return to rallies: voices grow that his presence can subtract more than add

The PSOE cools down Zapatero's return to rallies: voices grow that his presence can subtract more than add. Based on facts observed and verified directly by our journalists or by informed sources. Choose us as your favorite source on Google. Sánchez said he would have Zapatero in the campaign, but Ferraz does not confirm his presence and several socialist officials believe he should not participate. With this Monday's event in Valladolid, there are two absences in rallies in Castilla y León, while he remains under investigation in the Plus Ultra case and the jewelry case. The presence of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the 29-N campaign is cooling down: in the PSOE, several territorial and parliamentary officials ask that he does not participate in rallies, for fear that the judicial controversies surrounding him will end up displacing the electoral messages. The caution contrasts with what Pedro Sánchez said in September, when it was still expected that the general elections would be in 2027: that he would have him "as I have always counted in the elections." That support has not translated, for now, into a concrete invitation for the 29-N: Ferraz assures that there is no confirmed event with the former president. The administrative silence about Zapatero contrasts with the prominence he had in the last campaigns. In 2023 he toured several territories and became one of Sánchez's main supports among the militants; he also accompanied María Jesús Montero in the recent Andalusian elections, just before he was indicted in the Plus Ultra case. However, for the 29-N, his figure is very frowned upon. In the party, several officials believe that his presence can divert attention from the campaign and assume that, in these circumstances, it would not make much sense to have him. "He participates when he knows he can contribute," points a powerful voice in the party. "They should not take him out, I think there is no need," says a territorial leader. A parliamentarian with responsibilities in another federation also does not see him in open events: he believes it could make sense in a meeting more focused on the militants, but "the street is another thing." The phrase that is repeated the most, with nuances, is "there is no need to put him in the campaign." The leadership has not said clearly that he will be left out. María Jesús Montero, coordinator of the electoral strategy, has expressed how "delighted" the PSOE would be to have him, while also recalling that he is concentrated on his defense. Minister Félix Bolaños, asked this past Friday, forwarded the answer to the campaign committee. The public message keeps the door open, but the reservations of some officials point out that no one sees the former president, already indicted, participating in campaign rallies favorably. The change in calculation is due to the judicial situation the former president is going through. Zapatero is under investigation in the case about the rescue of Plus Ultra and in a separate piece for the jewelry intervened in his office, valued at more than 1.3 million euros. He maintains that the King of Saudi Arabia gave them in 2007. Furthermore, his daughters are summoned to testify as defendants on November 30, one day after the elections. For the socialist officials who prefer to keep him out of rallies, the risk is that his presence will force the PSOE to dedicate part of the campaign to responding to those matters, precisely when they want the messages they want to install are about housing, pensions, and the defense of public services. Furthermore, some socialist leaders also consider that the former president is not in a good time and that he would not want to get involved in an electoral campaign either. The judicial case is added to the recent death of his father, which several sources mention as a personal circumstance to consider. The agenda of these days leaves a sign: Zapatero was not at Sánchez's rally in Ponferrada and also does not appear among the participants this Monday in Valladolid, along with Óscar Puente and Carlos Martínez. The absence is noteworthy in Castilla y León, where he did participate in the 2023 campaign with a rally in Salamanca. The PSOE has not announced any event in León, the province with which he is politically linked, at the moment. In any case, his return to the rallies seems to be cooling down at times. Comments