Attendees of the May 28 meeting are aware that the Alicante board of directors may shift regional balances in the upcoming elections, and every vote will count. One supporter convinced of this view is the PSPV-PSOE re-election candidate, Ximo Puig. In the province, the week ahead will feature events four weeks before the ballot box opens. The Generalitat’s chair will participate in activities in Orihuela, Elche and Benidorm starting this Tuesday, wrapping up the summit with a duo in Alicante on Friday. He will chair the first plenary session of the Consell in the morning at the new headquarters, the old Post Office building on Plaza de Gabriel Miró, and will join Head of Government Pedro Sánchez in the afternoon to support Ana Barceló’s candidacy for Mayor of Alicante.
Puig’s state tour begins this Tuesday at the casino in Orihuela, where around 7:30 p.m. he will lead a gathering with Antonio Alonso, director of the Vega Renhace Plan; agronomist engineer José Manuel Carrillo; and TM Group CEO Pablo Serna. The event, organized by the civic platform backing Puig’s reelection, will feature historian Javier Sánchez Portas as a presenter and be chaired by University of Alicante professor Maribel Peñalver.
Vega Baja
Puig will also meet with local business leaders on Wednesday morning as part of a broader commitment to Vega Baja, a region he has visited many times since the DANA disaster and which housed the first regional office of the Generalitat Presidency. Recent assessments by the Consell show that investments made during the current legislative term in Vega Baja total more than 750 million euros, with emphasis on education infrastructure and related projects.
PSPV closes ranks to promote Barceló for Alicante Mayor
Puig’s itinerary continues on Wednesday in Elche, the Community’s third city and a center governed by Caros González, a socialist ally. In Elche, the Generalitat President will sign a cooperation agreement with PLD Space enabling the company to use a 90,000 square meter land parcel affiliated with IFA for its facilities, covering engineering and launch work for space rockets.
A PSPV event focused on education will also take place in Elche on Wednesday afternoon, highlighting Elche as a hub of modern technology. The event will feature the planned presence of Minister Pilar Alegría, who recently visited Elda and Xixona, and will address education as a priority alongside employment, housing and social justice within the socialist program.
Rally
The agenda then moves to Benidorm on Thursday, a municipality Puig will visit to reflect on the administration’s successes linked to the tourist capital of the Costa Blanca. The discussions will accompany the final years of the Benidorm Fest music festival just ahead of the Eurovision event, and plans to manage initiatives such as the Travel Bonus to aid sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, alongside a new Cultural Center after a decade of stalled progress.
The final act arrives Friday with the first council plenary at the Generalitat’s new Alicante headquarters. There, Barceló’s candidacy for Mayor will be promoted with the support of President Sánchez. The old Post Office building, inaugurated on March 20 in a ceremony that signaled a renewed relationship with the public, will host the event. Puig and Sánchez will appear together in a row of three public appearances in the community for 28A, with the other two stops in Castellón on the 9th and Valencia on the 20th. Puig attended the launch of Barceló’s candidacy in the capital last Friday, challenging the right to present a credible plan for Alicante.
Socialists hold sectoral meetings to finalize their programs
Alongside the Generalitat, Ximo Puig’s extensive provincial itinerary this week will intersect with a nationwide PSPV-PSOE autonomous congress featuring about a dozen industry-focused events across the Valencian Community. The aim is to outline the path for Valencia and finalize the election program that should address the social majority’s priorities, including employment, housing and social justice. Campaign coordinator Miquel Soler announced that representatives from civil society, central government, the Generalitat and the party will attend to determine the axes of the platform. Soler affirmed that the project presented will respond to the citizens’ interests and expectations for the future, setting milestones for the coming years and forming a long-term plan for Valencians. The congress will conclude next Sunday with a political action where Puig will unveil some of the program’s most significant proposals. During the week, Valencian socialists will solicit input from various factions on the Valencian Community to finalize the election program after months of work. The convention begins this Tuesday in Valencia with a housing-focused action, continues on Wednesday in Elche with education taking the lead, and includes two additional events on Thursday—one on water and agriculture, the other on digitalization—along with a Thursday meeting on employment with unions and employers in Valencia.