Temporarily, the political tremor returns to the PSOE branch in El Campello. The majority of the local executive, twelve members in total, has stepped down, pushing the party toward a caretaker phase to steer the local organization. The party’s secretary general and spokesperson in the town council, Vicent Vaello, has lost the support of party ranks, triggering another internal upheaval in a faction with a long and turbulent record of similar episodes.
In remarks to this outlet, Vaello chose not to comment directly, saying he had “no knowledge of anything,” yet added that he remains the spokesperson “until someone tells me otherwise.” He also stressed that, as he has in the past, he will be “where the party directs him.”
Thus, the El Campello Socialists enter a fresh period, one more in a sequence of crises over the past five years, marked by internal battles for control of the local group and the broader party. The first caretaker leadership was formed in 2019 after controversy over the electoral list for the 2019 elections, which led to the resignation of the candidate who had won primaries against the then local secretary Vaello, whose name Ferraz had imposed. A second rupture followed about 15 months later when the spokesperson’s faction, then led by Javier Salinas and representing roughly half of the local base, resigned. Nearly four years on, the third fracture has emerged for a PSOE that has been in opposition since 2019, with the last mayoral term dating back to 2004.
In this transition, the head of the caretaker council that the PSPV-PSOE plans to appoint in the municipality will be Alejandro Luengo, a trusted advisor to the provincial secretary Alejandro Soler and a member of Alicante’s executive, where he holds the role of Secretary for Strategy and Electoral Action. Negotiations have involved, among others, the provincial Secretary of Organization José Antonio Amat and former senator Ángel Franco, who continues to influence the Alicante PSOE machinery.
Party sources indicate that Ferraz has already been briefed on the movements taking place in El Campello, and the next step is to secure formal approval for Luengo’s presidency.
El Campello’s PSOE has thus entered a third caretaker period after more than half of its twelve-member executive resigned. The party statutes require the activation of a caretaker body and the establishment of a transition calendar aimed at holding an ordinary assembly within 90 days, from which a new executive would emerge if no unexpected obstacles arise. The transition team, chaired by Luengo, will be aided by Sandra Martín, the party’s deputy secretary general from the provincial chapter, José Luis Tafalla, the Organization Secretary in l’Alacantí, current provincial deputy Raquel Marín, and former provincial deputy María Jiménez, representing the local body.
Among those who stepped down from El Campello’s executive and catalyzed the caretaker arrangement are several figures who accuse Vaello of failing to fulfill essential duties as secretary and public spokesperson, stating that he missed meetings and did not carry out his responsibilities in recent times.
These criticisms are cited as the reason for his removal from the executive. Other party voices argue that the local friction traces back to the moment when Raquel Marín was chosen as provincial deputy, a role Vaello also sought, but he had to settle for a substitute seat. That dispute is seen as the trigger for the current standoff, pushing Soler’s provincial leadership to intervene when necessary.
The conflict intensified last December, though within the PSPV it was largely sidelined while the party focused on the succession process for the secretariat under Ximo Puig. Puig’s leadership later ceded to Diana Morant, despite Soler’s public ambitions being tempered by Ferraz. Once the leadership question settled, El Campello’s local crisis surged back into the spotlight.
The Socialists in this province now face a third caretaker administration, following similar arrangements in Calp and Teulada. This caretaker council must oversee the delegate elections for the Extraordinary Congress scheduled to take place between March 22 and 24 in Benicàssim, Castellón, unless Madrid provides an alternative that would shift this task to the provincial level to appoint delegates as the superior executive body.