Reyes Maroto (Medina del Campo, 52 years old) said in April that she would run again as the socialist candidate for the Madrid mayoralty. She already was in 2023, just arriving from the Ministry of Industry. With the end of the term around the corner, the waters were calm in the Madrid PSOE. And no turmoil was expected. Óscar López was the almost certain candidate ―and so it has been― for the Community and Maroto the candidate, initially the only one, for the City Council. Ferraz’s bet for the second year. That changed three weeks ago. Enma López, the party’s number two in Cibeles, announced that she would compete to face José Luis Martínez-Almeida (PP) in 2027 and the regional executive thought she had rushed. This Sunday the two councilors will measure their strength at the polls.
Read more Nine years of disqualification for David Sánchez: what the sentence says
Question. Was it expected to have to defend your candidacy in primaries?
Answer. It is important to participate in primary processes because that means internal democracy works. When I arrived in 2023, I did so with a commitment: to build a project to win Madrid in 2027, with the support of the membership, going to the groups, visiting the neighborhoods, doing a lot of work on the street, with neighborhood entities. I considered that I had to materialize that commitment into something, which was staying. I have not disappointed anyone, I have kept my word and with more than 1,400 endorsements.
Q. Your colleague, Enma López, has also obtained support.
A. I do not doubt that Enma also generates enthusiasm. She has to explain why she abandoned this project we started together. She was my campaign director and that materialized in an electoral program, which has been developing and creating expectations. I continue to defend it. The one who has abandoned it is Enma and she will have to convince the membership why they should support her. And she did it in a way that was not loyal. She did not respect the timing or the procedure and wanted to be the protagonist in a week when the president [Pedro Sánchez] was accountable before his federal executive, of which she was a part.
Q. When you say abandon, who does she abandon?
A. She abandons the project. I am working on a common project, not individual ones. I do not want to be the protagonist. She will have to explain why on the day of the State of the City debate [June 30, four days after announcing her candidacy] she decided to take a photo with our opponent [Almeida]. I trust the primaries, it is an opportunity. I am also competitive and I go out to win. All the support from so many members encourages me to think that on Sunday I will be the next candidate to beat Almeida.
Q. Do you consider yourself the candidate of the apparatus?
A. I do not want labels, anyone who runs in the primaries does so thinking of the membership, which is the one that has supported me. No candidate surpasses 1,000 endorsements without that support. I do not distinguish between physical endorsement [Maroto obtained more] and online endorsement [López obtained more]. The one who goes to the party houses to endorse is a very brave endorsement. I believe that trust, consistency, and commitment are hallmarks of my candidacy.
Q. Last week you spoke of normality. This week you have hardened the tone with López.
A. I have always had the same tone of respect. When I heard the news, I took it with a lot of normality, positively. Clearly, I did not expect it. We have been talking these days with a lot of normality. We are competing, both want to be the candidates. I am following her campaign, I suppose she is also following mine. Madrid deserves, finally, a socialist government that returns dignity to an institution that has become a stronghold for the PP.
Q. You said you consider López’s project individualistic.
A. Everyone puts on the labels they want. I want to be just another comrade. Above any member, there is a party. I have not deceived anyone and I present myself to these primaries with the work done, with my word, and I have been supported by many grassroots members. I have not changed course.
Q. When Sánchez ran in the PSOE primaries in 2017, he did so against Susana Díaz, considered the candidate of the party’s establishment.
A. We are not in 2017. There are people making comparisons. Pedro Sánchez, to defend his convictions, abandoned his seat. Enma is still deputy spokesperson of the municipal group and the government to beat is the PP’s. That is why I asked for loyalty and unity. We cannot get into internal debates when the people of Madrid need us. That said, primaries are wonderful. I have already gone twice. I did it a year ago, to be the secretary general of Madrid in the capital. At that time no one else ran either. She could have taken the step if she was sure she could lead this project. I think she is a person who can contribute a lot to the party.
Q. In 2023 you landed in Cibeles just arriving from a ministry. The regional candidate for 2027 is another minister, Óscar López. The same as in Valencia, with Diana Morant. Does this strategy benefit the PSOE?
A. In Madrid, sanchismo, as they call us these candidates, is very positive. If the Spanish government has done something, it has been to benefit the people of Madrid. Every time pensions are revalued, the minimum wage is raised, or with the regularization of immigrants. Being sanchista is a value, I have always defended it and I will defend it. We talked earlier about the apparatus. Enma López, until a week ago, had her office in Ferraz and was part of the federal executive. Therefore, the labels do not harm either of us.
Q. You have proposed a debate to defend each of your candidacies. What differentiates your model?
A. Everyone knows my model. Where the Popular Party sees business, the PSOE sees rights: housing, public services, health, or education. [Enma] tries to convey a project in which I now see no differences, because the first proposals she makes for Madrid are nothing more than marketing of what we have defended in the Socialist Municipal Group. I am waiting to see what new proposals she brings to inspire. I hope the debate is very constructive. We both want the party to come out stronger.
Q. If you won, what would be your flagship proposal?
A. A housing project that recovers housing as a right. I would adopt tension zones as a policy to control rent prices and cap them. I would also build public housing on plots that Almeida is currently selling because public must remain public. And then, a thorough review of cleaning contracts, demanding compliance and changing the cleaning map so it does not depend on the postal code.
Q. Have you been able to communicate your city project to the citizens?
A. We are here to do politics, not marketing. And politics is done when you go to the neighborhoods to defend the needs of the neighbors. No to the canton, no to the felling, no to the crematorium. Marketing is good, it helps to project, to make the work known, but I like politics more to achieve things.
Q. Would you have done anything differently?
A. It is always good to identify strengths and weaknesses. One of the main weaknesses of the PSOE project in Madrid has been alternation, that every four years we changed the person who led. We cannot make that mistake. That is why I am running.
Q. Enma has been a councilor in the Madrid City Council since 2019. You, for three years. Do you think that is a disadvantage?
A. I arrived in Madrid more than 25 years ago and started doing Madrid politics in 2015 in the Assembly. Today I can say that, thanks to the Spanish government, of which I was a minister, the people of Madrid live a little better. Therefore, on the contrary, my project is a project with great commitment. I feel Madrilenian, I have built a vital project in Madrid. And I have to give back a lot because it has given me everything.
Q. If López wins on Sunday, would you stay as part of her team?
A. I will make myself available to the winning project, as I have always done. I am not the protagonist of anything, I am a grassroots member, and I will be wherever the PSOE needs me.
Q. She has already said she will count on you.
A. Party by party, after Sunday, we will talk. I am sure we will choose the best options for the Socialist Party.
Q. And if you win, will you count on her?
A. I have not stopped counting on her.
Q. So, you would want her on your team.
A. I insist, I have not stopped having trust and complicity with her. She is my right hand, she is the person who shared with me a very tough electoral campaign. One question she also has to answer is whether this is about “it’s time” [López’s campaign slogan] or “it’s my turn.”
Q. Once the candidate is known, will the PSOE in the capital come out stronger?
A. Without a doubt. Primaries are an exercise of internal democracy that I recommend to all parties, including the Popular Party. Yesterday [Tuesday] I heard the PP spokesperson say that the opposition is in internal wars. No. Primaries are not a turning point. This is not looking inward, it is strengthening from within.
Read more Imposing tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, Trump’s latest whim and backtrack
