Alicante PSOE Leadership Tension and Fresh Contenders

The veteran leader Ángel Franco, the man who for decades has quietly pulled the strings behind Alicante’s Socialist group, is pressing to replace Miguel Millana with Francisco Fenollar as the local secretary general of the PSOE in Alicante. His move has run into opposition from the party’s diverse factions, and once again they push back. From various sectors of the party, the unilateral backing of Fenollar by the former senator is rejected; they insist on building a broad consensus and warn that if he proceeds with the gambit, with a shrinking majority, he will face opposition from nearly half of the group. At the same time, observers lament that Franco repeats his long standing method of elevating a loyalist to keep him under control, and there is joking that this time he has backed a candidate with psychiatric training, a nod to the chaos that has enveloped the Pintor Gisbert headquarters.