He Came, He Lost, He Left

So the unsuccessful candidate to be mayor of Madrid, Miguel Sebastian, decided yesterday that 4 years in opposition in the town hall wasn't really what he was looking for. I never thought, given the nature of his selection, that he was going to be involved in Madrid city politics for very long; he was put there as candidate because no party heavyweight could be persuaded to contest the post with Gallardón. The awful result in the election meant that he did not even have much support in his own party. Sebastian's reward will undoubtedly come if Zapatero gets re-elected, I still suspect he might emerge as finance minister in a second term administration. Unfortunately, he assured the media that he would stick it out in opposition in the event of losing the election, so the nature of his going only serves to emphasise the terrible handling of the election in Madrid.

Meanwhile the winner of the election, Gallardón, wasted no time in staking his claim to run in second place on the party list in the general elections; something which has been rumoured for several months. In the event he has been slapped down a bit by Mariano Rajoy who probably feels it's a bit premature to have someone who so desperately wants to succeed him as PP leader getting too close. The battle to replace Rajoy if he loses the next election involves both Gallardón and, amazingly, the pauper president Esperanza Aguirre. The latter is not allowed to run for parliament whilst being regional president, Gallardón has no such restriction and is seeking a position to launch himself at national level. Aguirre, however, has much more influence within the party machine and in my opinion is more likely to get the job. I might expand on why I think this is so when I have returned from what I hope will be an enjoyable and relaxing week in Italy.