“I will not talk about fruit or other things that neither interest nor are needed by the Valencians. People know me, have seen me work, and know how I have fulfilled my obligations when I have had a responsibility,” asserted the socialist Pilar Bernabé this Monday during the presentation of her candidacy for the primaries for the mayoralty of the capital for the PSPV-PSOE. With no alternative, she is now officially the socialist candidate. Also already candidates for this party are Trini Amorós, from Alicante; Rafa Simó, from Castellón; and Héctor Díez, from Elche. The leader of the Valencian socialists and Minister of Science, Diana Morant, introduced them this Monday at the socialist headquarters in Valencia.
“We have eight months left to recover what matters,” proclaimed Morant. The socialist leader pointed out that the party starts the week “happy” to already have the candidates for the mayoralties of municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants where the party does not govern, something that sends a “very clear message”: “We are ready to govern the future.”
Against this, she assured that the PSPV faces a president of the Generalitat, Juafran Pérez Llorca, from the PP, who is “in overtime.” “We announce that he is going to lose the elections, we don’t even know if he will run. We also don’t know if he has two weeks left as leader of the PPCV,” she hinted. On the other hand, Morant denied that the residents “renounce” the PSPV brand, assured that this “is not true,” and claimed that, in “tough times” for democracy, people “have always known where the progressive values were.”
Bernabé, who presented her candidacy two hours earlier at an event at the party headquarters, committed to not resorting to insults during the campaign, as the Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso did when she called the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, a “son of a bitch” and later claimed that what she had said was “I like fruit.”
The 46-year-old socialist politician presented her management after the dana of October 29, 2024, as her endorsement, which earned her recognition from her party and from those affected for her tenacity in accompanying mayors and citizens affected by the brutal flood every day for months. In fact, she assured that her mandate as mayor, if achieved, will be very metropolitan. Some party colleagues have even called her the “mayor of the province” for walking many of the muddy municipalities in the metropolitan belt, which together with the capital has a population of 1.6 million inhabitants.
“Valencia is my personal and life project,” Bernabé, current Government delegate in the Valencian Community and Equality secretary in the federal leadership of the PSOE, argued. The politician, who arrived at the government delegation while serving as a councilor in the Valencia City Council, now returns as a candidate for mayor, a position she will seek alongside the current mayor, María José Catalá, from the PP, the former vice president of the Generalitat Mònica Oltra, from Compromís, who is working to build a broader candidacy with other political formations. And very possibly alongside the former bullfighter Vicente Barrera, who although not confirmed is emerging as the Vox candidate.
The Valencia candidate has announced that her first political measures if she takes office will be to recognize the families of the 17 deceased during the dana that devastated several districts of the capital two years ago, and to apply the state Housing law in a city very strained by rising prices in buying and renting homes.
Bernabé has stated that she will implement policies to remove tourist apartments from residential areas, and also introduce the tourist tax — something she did not achieve during her previous term — “to bring order to uncontrolled tourism.” She renewed her commitment to climate change against a government “denialist in this city” and unveiled her plan to renaturalize the capital: 3 trees that each resident can see from their window, 30% green areas in neighborhoods, and green spaces within 300 meters of every home. “Valencia needs trees, not two awnings,” she emphasized referring to the covers that Catalá has installed in some squares of the capital to mitigate heat waves.
Her continuity at the head of the Government Delegation in the Valencian Community is beyond doubt: “I plan to be delegate as long as I can to continue serving the Valencians. Because the Government of Spain is essential for Valencia. Every measure, every infrastructure that the Executive supports in this city is an improvement for the lives of Valencians.” Bernabé cited the Mediterranean rail corridor as an example, which will allow the creation of a green corridor in the southern neighborhoods of the capital, or the help of the UME in risk situations such as the Saler fire just a few days ago.
The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, her political rival in the upcoming campaign, did not want to comment on her candidacy. She only said she hopes that “Pedro Sánchez’s delegate” fulfills her duty until the last moment and tries to improve the presence of police and civil guards in the city, “which is what we Spaniards pay her for.”
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