• PSOE-Madrid president Manuel Robles backs call for Congress on March 21st
• Madrid Socialists join growing national push for new party leadership election
Some 500 Socialist party (PSOE) members from the Madrid community gathered on Monday to join a growing nationwide movement calling for internal party “Primaries and Congress Now!” (Primarias y Congreso ¡Ya!), in an event backed by veteran PSOE mayor of Fuenlabrada and PSOE-Madrid regional president Manuel Robles and attended by several PSOE deputies who broke ranks with the national party to vote against conservative Partido Popular (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s return to power.
Calling on the PSOE to hold its national Congress on March 21st, the formation of the Madrid Primarias y Congreso ¡Ya! platform occurred as similar regional and provincial platforms are being formed across the country, demanding the immediate convening of a Socialist party Congress and election of a new party leader. The PSOE caretaker administration in charge of the party since the October ouster of party general secretary Pedro Sánchez has said it is not considering holding the Socialist congress until May or June.
Across Spain, thousands of party militants are joining local and regional platforms to demand the date for the Congress be moved up and primary elections for the new leadership convened. The movement is particularly strong in Andalucia, with five new provincial groups expected to adhere to affiliate later this week with the national Primarias y Congreso ¡Ya! movement, and on Monday an assembly to form a platform in Castilla-León will be held in Valladolid.
According to Nieves Hernández, the PSOE activist and UGT labour lawyer who was chosen last week to lead the movement, there are more than 30 platforms already formed at the provincial level throughout Spain and more are slated for formation in the coming weeks.
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