Valencia, 7 November 2026 – Valencia’s mayor, María José Catalá (Partido Popular), said at an event at the Mercado de Colón urged her supporters to rally in the final weeks before the parliamentary election on 29 November. She called on them to vote “united” for a change of power, and described the vote as a choice “between democracy and tyranny”. The aim was to Pedro Sánchez “remove La Moncloa from office”.
Catalá paired her call to mobilise with sharp criticism of an appearance by the head of government in Valencia the previous day. She mocked Sánchez for choosing an event so tightly controlled “that he might as well have held it in Toledo with his chauffeur”, and challenged the Socialists to face an appearance “on the street”. The Partido Popular, she stressed, was not afraid of direct confrontation with the public.
Turning to the national stage, Catalá presented the election as a decision about the country’s direction. She reiterated her support for PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and said he was “the best president this country will have”. The stark choice of “democracy or tyranny” is part of the current polarisation in the Spanish election campaign; it is clearly intended to consolidate conservative votes and prevent voters switching to other right-wing groups. The PSOE regularly rejects such characterisations as exaggerated; no substantive response from party headquarters had emerged by Saturday.
The appearance in Valencia marks the campaign’s decisive phase. The current contest between the PP and PSOE is less about individual policy proposals than about control of the narrative on the government’s record, and the question of whom voters will give a mandate to govern in a polarised climate. Whether the confrontational tone will sway undecided voters in urban constituencies remains to be seen; nationwide polls in the coming weeks will be decisive.
The statements cited were made at Catalá’s public appearance at Mercado de Colón on Saturday. The date and quotations are consistent with contemporaneous reports from Valencia. The parliamentary election is scheduled for 29 November; the precise course of the campaign’s final phase will depend largely on further major events held by the two largest parties.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).