The general secretary of the PSOE of Andalusia, María Jesús Montero, admitted in recent days that she did not want primaries to choose the candidates for the 2027 municipal elections. “The fewer primaries, the better,” she told members of her party. In the same meeting, the Andalusian socialist leader had to acknowledge her “surprise” at the presence of two candidates for the primaries for the mayoralty of Jaén, which is the only Andalusian capital governed by the socialists. “I have absolutely no doubt that Julio [Millán] will be the next candidate and the next mayor of the city of Jaén,” the socialist leader said in a message that at the time sounded like a tacit prohibition to start hostilities in the Jaén capital.
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However, the PSOE of Jaén has ignored Montero’s message and this Wednesday it was confirmed that there will be two pre-candidates for the primaries. The current mayor and general secretary of the party in the capital, Julio Millán, has been joined by a councilor from his government team, Carlos Alberca, fifth deputy mayor. Both presented the required endorsements this Wednesday to be pre-candidates and, if they pass the regional leadership’s filter, both will compete to be chosen as the candidate in primaries on September 26.
Millán ruled out his selection as a candidate by direct route, a prerogative granted by his status as mayor. He said he wanted to have the endorsement of the membership and the prior support of his colleagues to face the continuation of the municipal project that he himself leads. But perhaps he did not think that he could have an opponent within his government team.”
“I wouldn’t have done it,” Millán said in an interview with the local media ExtraJaén, where he also admitted that he would have liked to have the support of all the members of his team. In a veiled way, Millán has hinted that Alberca’s aspiration has to do with his ambition to continue growing in municipal politics after being sidelined since Millán regained the mayoralty in January 2025, in his second term as municipal leader following a vote of no confidence against the PP, which was supported by Jaén Merece Más.
The PSOE is required to hold primaries in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants to choose their candidates for mayoralties, a process from which mayors are exempt. But, in addition to Jaén, the socialists have also ignored María Jesús Montero’s message and are preparing to hold primaries in Almería, Huelva, and Córdoba.
In the case of Jaén, Montero’s bet is clear in favor of Millán, of whom she said that “he has done a magnificent job to clean up the city council’s accounts, to tackle the most emblematic projects and to launch investments that are very important for the city” and she was convinced that he will again be the party’s electoral poster in 2027.
Primaries are also considered certain in Linares, the second most populated city in the province of Jaén, where the contest will be between the current municipal secretary and provincial deputy Javier Perales and the national deputy Ana Cobo.
There will be no primaries in Andújar, where the candidate will be the historic socialist Micaela Navarro (Andújar, 1956), who was president of the PSOE between 2014 and 2016, second vice president of the Congress of Deputies between 2016 and 2019. She has also been Minister of Equality and Social Welfare of the Junta de Andalucía (2004-2012), councilor in the Andújar City Council (1991-1996), senator for the province of Jaén (1996-2000) and deputy in the Congress of Deputies for Jaén (2000-2004). The new leader of the PSOE of Jaén, Juan Latorre, said he is very pleased that a member like her, “with experience, with the endorsement of her management, who has always put Andújar above all, has taken the step to lead the PSOE candidacy for the mayoralty.”
Latorre stated that the PSOE “is ready to govern Andújar again, to build a prosperous city and deploy useful policies” from the City Council. “We have a strong membership, experience, and the project that Andújar needs, a very important city for the PSOE and for the province,” he concluded.
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