“We are all perplexed.” “If we continue like this, this is going to be unbearable.” “They are taking us all to the extreme.” The barons of the PP speak like this, amidst confusion, exhaustion and anger at the crisis that faces the popular national leadership with Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the power of the party in Madrid. They have already participated in a national convention and in two regional congresses, forming part, without intending to, of the “talent show”Of the PP (in the words of Pablo Casado) and they have witnessed the crossfire between the two parties, filling their patience. Fed up with the clash, regional presidents of the PP set a deadline for the leadership to settle the fight with Ayuso: Christmas. They believe that it would be dramatic for the PP and for Casado himself to start the year with the open crisis. The popular leader risks his internal authority, consider the barons consulted by EL PAÍS, if he does not manage to close the dispute soon, since they make him the head of the party’s ranks.

In some regional presidencies, they are considering stopping participating in the party’s regional congresses if the conflict is still open, tired of the “circus” in which they have been involved. The annoyance is generalized, but there are two autonomous communities, Andalusia and Castilla y León, especially concerned because they may pay at the polls soon for the internal division, which is usually highly penalized by voters. Andalusia has certain elections next year, and in Castilla y León a possible electoral advance is hovering. From the governments of these two PP communities, the national leadership is urged to take action on the matter. “The room for maneuver is between now and Christmas. Before that period they have to resolve the issue of Madrid ”, claims a regional president of the PP. “If after four months this is finally settled, you start the start of the political course calmly, without problems. But if this problem continues next year, Casado is going to have a lack of authority ”, warns this regional baron.

Presidents are concerned that high voting volatility persists and the PP’s main rival, Vox, remains strong and eager to receive disgruntled popular voters. Several barons point out that the internal struggle puts a “ceiling” on the electoral growth of the PP, and “fattens” Vox. “If we continue like this after Christmas, it is clear that it hurts the party. And it hurts who has to stand in the elections ”, they complain in a popular presidency.

In Andalusia they are also very upset that the Andalusian PP congress became this past weekend the scene of the battle, with Ayuso and Casado crossing live and direct messages that overshadowed the coming-out of Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla. “That this ends as soon as possible is urgent. It is an unnecessary wear, and more for the national leadership. We urge you to resolve it as soon as possible. How? They will know ”, say sources of the Andalusian PP. The president of the Board has also been provoked by another recent crisis with the leak of the audio of his vice president, Juan Marín, revealing in an internal meeting that the Government was not interested in approving the budgets in electoral year, but in the Andalusian PP they do not blame Genoa – despite the role of Fran Hervías, advisor at the top, in the maneuver – and they assure that the management does not pressure them for an advance. Relations with Genoa have improved a lot since they clashed over the provincial congresses in which the leadership wanted to get their hands on it, but it has not done anything funny “that the problem of the national leadership with Ayuso is transferred to Andalusia.”

The barons have been present at the events and have perceived, on the other hand, that the Madrid president is winning the battle between the rank and file. “The talent show Ayuso is winning it. The clap meter it is definitive ”, ironizes an autonomic leader that was in the congress of the PP in Granada. The internal division causes discomfort to everyone and in the waiting room in which the presidents in the Andalusian Congress agreed on Friday, no one spoke of the conflict. They barely crossed “elevator conversations”, says one of those present. Some of those who were in that room believe that the Madrid leader, and especially her surroundings, “want to wear down the PP.” The crisis has also opened cracks between regional leaders and the tension is cut by the knife.

But although Ayuso is pointed out by his colleagues as a participant in the mess, the barons mostly point to Casado. In the regional presidencies there is a feeling that the leader of the PP is dragging his feet in his struggle for control of the PP in Madrid with Ayuso. “He is very angry, for me to say what he said in the Andalusian congress, but he does not finish acting,” says a president. “He does not make decisions … Right now the only firm decision is not to advance the congress of the PP in Madrid,” he laments. The date of the congress is one of the fronts of the struggle, which the general secretary, Teodoro García Egea, wanted to consider this Tuesday to be settled because Ayuso has accepted that it be in the first half of 2022. However, in the president’s team They later recalled that, “within that margin, it can be done early or late” and what she is asking is “that the sooner it is done, the better.”

The number two The PP is also criticized by regional leaders. “Confronting Mañueco, Feijóo, Moreno Bonilla and Ayuso at the same time is suicidal. This is what Teodoro is doing. He has faced everyone at the same time and is very dangerous. Who can be harmed is Casado ”, thinks a leader. The number two of the PP asked the dissonant voices this Tuesday – without mentioning Ayuso – “to dedicate themselves to something other than putting sticks in the wheels.” In some baronies they answer him that the ball is in his court: “The maximum responsibility lies with the national leadership, which is responsible for keeping the party together.”