The mystery solved without surprises. The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has nominated Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, 49 years old and spokesperson of the group in Les Corts, as a candidate for president succeed Carlos Mazón at the helm of the Generalitat Valenciana, as the leadership of the PP reported at midday on Tuesday. Mayor of the municipality of Finestrat since 2015 and regional deputy, Pérez Llorca is also general secretary of the Popular Valencians and right-hand man of Mazón, who resigned last week after facing the pain and indignation of the relatives of the dana victims at the state funeral on the anniversary of the tragedy that caused 229 deaths in Valencia. Génova had until November 19th to announce its candidate to lead the Consell, but Feijóo made the move today after Pérez Llorca himself, one of the team’s favourites, indicated on Monday that the national leadership was responsible for the decision. At the same time, Vox exerted public pressure, asking for a name on the table to start negotiations for the future investiture. And the announcement has finally arrived in the form of a press release.
“This morning the president of the Popular Party had a final telephone conversation with Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca”, specifies the PP in a note distributed to the media. “In this conversation, Alberto Núñez Feijóo informed Pérez Llorca of his designation as the PP candidate for the Presidency of the Generalitat in view of the plenary investiture session which will be convened in the next few days to give stability to the Valencian Community as soon as possible,” they added in the statement. “Furthermore, Miguel Tellado telephoned the provincial presidents to inform them of the decision of the national leadership of the party. This decision had the unanimous support of the three territories. The PPCV will formally communicate this decision to Vox as well as to the rest of the groups represented in the Valencian Cortes”, they say in Feijóo’s cabinet.
A couple of hours earlier, the general secretary of the PP had appealed for Vox’s support during an information breakfast when the Genoese candidate for the Generalitat was still unknown: “The Valencian Community has a stable government, especially in the last year, and it would not make sense for this government to be forced to stop and call elections, which would stop the normal activity of the government,” Tellado indicated. “And that reconstruction would be neglected as the Sánchez government neglected it. Both parties will know how to put the general interest first, if the Popular Party and Vox defend the general interest, it will be very easy to reach an agreement”, underlined Feijóo’s number two, asking Santiago Abascal’s party not to fall into “electoral calculation” in the face of negotiations.
As for the talks to tighten the investiture pact, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, intervened a few minutes after the name of Pérez Llorca was definitively known as the candidate. Muñoz argued that his party’s limits on conversations with Vox about a possible investiture deal are “the law” and “the Constitution.” “In the negotiations with Vox there is nothing that citizens do not know and that we have already seen in other (autonomous) governments. Our limits are the law and the Constitution,” declared the popular leader of the Chamber. That and when Vox refuses to enforce the law on the distribution of migrant children on the Peninsula. Indeed, after the first contacts between the two parties, the main obstacle is the policy on migrant minors, as Santiago Abascal’s party is increasing its demands on this point.
Political tandem
Pérez Llorca forms a political tandem with the president still in office since 2019, when Mazón was appointed president of the council of Alicante. At that time, the national leadership of the PP was led by Pablo Casado and Teodoro García Egea. Both leaders elected Mazón to first obtain organic control of the party and then make the leap to the Valencian government to wrest power from the left in 2023, made up of PSOE, Compromís and Unides Podem.
As general secretary of the Valencian People’s Party, he negotiated the pact expressed with Vox in 2023 and, already as spokesperson for his group, the subsequent parliamentary agreements with the far right. Vox deputies do not hesitate to praise him, such as the spokesperson of the Valencian Cortes, José María Llanos, who just three days ago declared: “I like Juanfran”.
Pérez Llorca proves he is a man of the people. He is the mayor of Finestrat, a municipality of 10,000 inhabitants where he won the 2023 municipal elections with an absolute majority. He speaks Valencian, he likes to hunt and walk with his dogs along the slopes of the Puig Campana mountain in Alicante. It postulates a moderate regionalism that clashes with the sector of the party represented by Esteban González Pons or the current mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, who was also initially considered in the pools to replace Mazón.
