The pace of our era is speed. Change, urgency, renewal. Everything can be offered up on the altar of constant novelty. A garment, the latest Apple gadget, or a political leader—discipline itself yields to the century’s voracious tempo. Leaders rise, consolidate, and fade away inside a single legislative term. Names like Pablo Iglesias, Albert Rivera, Pablo Casado, Eduardo Madina, Inés Arrimadas, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Susana Díaz illustrate a decade filled with bright careers that burn out quickly. Today many of them work in consultancies or appear on talk shows. The last ten years are crowded with fleeting stars.
The surrounding context adds depth to what happened on the Valencian left. The definitive retirement of Valencia’s former mayor Joan Ribó marks the closing act of a few weeks that hint at a political cycle shift in Valencian left politics: a generation that kept local parties connected to the Transition and the roots of Valencian self-government, remaining in the front line either as protagonists or as ideological figures for decades.
The case includes former president Ximo Puig, aged 65, who will soon take up a post as Spain’s ambassador to the OECD. He began as a deputy in 1983 and has stood in the primary or secondary lines of the PSPV for four decades. Vicent Soler, aged 74, a respected intellectual and political figure within socialism and Valencianism, has been removed by the Mazón-led Consell as president of the Social Council of the University of Valencia.
In recent days, the arc of José Luis Ábalos, 64, a longtime figure in Valencian social democracy, has closed amid a corruption scandal. Former president Joan Lerma, 72, has also stepped back quietly after leaving the Senate seat he had held for the last twenty years.
In Compromís, together with Ribó, the last electoral cycle signals the end of a phase of Valencian autonomous politics with Enric Morera, 59, moving toward the Senate. He was a key Valencian nationalist figure who had already been active since the transition within the Partit Nacionalista del País Valencià. Alicante representatives Rafa Climent, 65, another Bloc veteran who chaired the Botànic government, and Manuel Alcaraz, 66, who appeared as the top Compromís candidate for the Senate in the last general election, are also stepping away.
A generation with double the life span, some say. This is the retirement of the generation of my parents, remarks Francesc Miralles, a political scientist and advisor. In a normal democracy leadership begins around forty and you retire around sixty because a proper handover exists. This cohort has lived twice as long as expected, overwhelmed by constant crises the moment they arrive. Miralles adds that the next generation has not shone as brightly, and the longer arc explains why the elder generation endured for so long.
The old rule that power wears people out is countered by the idea that opposition can burn projects more fiercely. This generation faces not simply age but a seismic institutional wave from 2023. The right felt this too. The 2015 upheaval, with corruption baggage in some cases, pushed a generation in their thirties and forties toward the political foreground, paving the way for leaders like Carlos Mazón, María José Catalá, and Vicent Mompó. The baton is now in the hands of a cohort in their thirties and forties, ready to redefine the stage.
Today the left stands at a generational and cultural hinge. This moment cuts the umbilical cord to the years of building self-government. Vicent Soler embodies this shift through his intellectual and political career, offering a glimpse into the longevity of his cohort. He describes starting very young with little to rely on but improvisation, playing roles of two generations at once, a heavy responsibility that kept his group at the forefront.
What will the handover bring for the movement? The lawyer and political scientist Susi Boix embodies the DNA of new generations anchored in democratic construction and the defense of regional institutions. Her perspective notes that today’s leaders were born in a fully democratic era, and the gaze toward them is different—they are chasing new banners and new directions.
The question now facing PSPV and Compromís is clear. Diana Morant will need to determine the future identity of PSPV. The early test will be how a leadership that includes a minister will balance agendas and messages. The central question remains: What will the new Valencian left champion, and will the guiding principle of self-government under Puig and Soler endure or give way to another core issue? A similar debate about organizational direction exists in Compromís. The circumstances of its birth have shifted; it has three pressing tasks—the leadership figures, the leadership style, and the ideas it will pursue at a moment when nationalist parties are gaining strength. This could steer a possible alliance with Sumar or a fresh, nationalist path reminiscent of the BNG.
This moment signals a broader reckoning about duration, leadership, and direction for the Valencian left. It is not merely about replacing faces; it is about choosing the values and strategies that will guide a region with a deep tradition of regional autonomy and political experimentation. The road ahead invites bold choices and a readiness to redefine what the movement stands for in a very different political era.