The Por Andalucía bus arrives at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba shortly after half past eleven in the morning. Descending from it are the candidate for the Junta, Antonio Maíllo, Minister Pablo Bustinduy, the provincial lead candidate, Rosa María Rodríguez, and their campaign team. The Minister of Social Rights, one of the best-rated members of the Council of Ministers according to the CIS, has been sharing the agenda for 24 hours with the candidate for the presidency of the coalition that brings together Izquierda Unida, Podemos, and Movimiento Sumar. An agreement sealed at the last minute, but one that has allowed the construction of a narrative around unity, although in practice, with parallel agendas, it has hardly been seen.
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On Wednesday, the stop was in Málaga, to denounce the effects of touristification that has led to a rise in housing prices. Afterwards, a rally in Torremolinos. And this Thursday, the first visit serves to address the other central element of the campaign, the collapse of healthcare. The opposition parties collectively denounce the management of Moreno’s PP, which has led to long waiting lists in primary care, diagnostic tests, and surgical interventions; closed hospitals; “abandoned” health centers; or a lack of staff in pediatrics, criticisms they have reiterated throughout these 15 days. The penultimate day of the campaign concludes in the afternoon with a rally featuring the IU Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, as well as former regional deputy José Manuel Gómez Jurado.
Mid-morning, Maíllo and Bustinduy are received by a large group of volunteers, dressed in green vests and dedicated to going door to door in the neighborhoods. Among them are historical figures of the party, such as Antonia Parrado, former spokesperson of the City Council, who was the wife of the first mayor of the city in democracy and former federal coordinator of IU, Julio Anguita, and mother of their son, Julio Anguita Parrado, a reporter who died in Iraq in 2003. “Moreno Bonilla still does not tell Andalusian society the truth about the breast cancer screening scandal,” Maíllo repeats to the media in one of the messages he wants to resonate these days.
“When I was young, I was told that there was no more democratic place than a hospital waiting room. Because in vulnerability, illness, fragility, we are all equal. That is what Moreno and the PP’s model is destroying, turning the right to health into a privilege so that a group of private operators can profit,” Bustinduy states in his speech.
“I thank you for what you do on behalf of all of Spain,” a middle-aged supporter approaches to greet him. “On behalf of all of Spain, it won’t be,” the minister modestly replies, lowering his head, aware of the current pull of right-wing parties. Bustinduy is kissed, hugged, and congratulated by several men and women at the hospital doors. A Canal Sur worker, whose inter-center committee has called strikes during this campaign, pins a protest badge on his lapel. He poses shyly. Minutes later, he boards the bus with the candidate that takes them to the historic center.
The whole team walks for several minutes on the way to a couple of Córdoba patios, which open their doors in May and are displayed adorned with flowers and pots hanging from their walls and shining on the cobbled pavement. Several neighbors stop Maíllo, greet him warmly. The candidate, the minister, and the advisors seek shade while waiting in line for several minutes to enter the house of Ricardo González Maestre and Antonia Lucena, who arrived “in love” and as tenants to this property in 1984. Later they bought and restored it, explaining while proudly showing the beautiful decoration.
Three days before the elections and despite accumulated fatigue, spirits are high, they assure at Por Andalucía. After a blurred campaign, overshadowed by the hantavirus crisis or Florentino Pérez’s appearance to attack the press and call elections at Real Madrid, the national leaders of Sumar make the most of the last days to support the candidate for the presidency and the provincial lead candidates. The left-wing coalition, whose space is in full redefinition for the general elections, is aware that it will only manage to contain internal fluctuations if it improves, even slightly, the 2022 result (five deputies) and always remains, in any case, above Adelante Andalucía, whose rise is predicted by polls from the current two seats.
The political space leaves a somewhat loose image, with a lot of activity but hardly any joint events. Although the leadership defends that Maíllo’s non-coincidence with Podemos leaders – a party that criticized the agreement as soon as it was sealed – is “anecdotal,” the truth is that the organizations have limited themselves to supporting their own members. And the presence of Ione Belarra and Irene Montero has been modest, with one or two events each in the campaign. For now, any decision beyond May 17 has been suspended, but Sunday’s results will condition the next steps ahead of the 2027 elections.
