Councillor Enma López is running for the PSOE primaries in Madrid with over a thousand endorsements and sees herself as the winner against Reyes Maroto. She claims her project brings "empathy and closeness" to break 37 years without a socialist government in Cibeles.
The councillor Enma López has positioned herself as the renewal that the Madrid PSOE needs to take the Mayor's Office from the PP after almost four decades. With more than one thousand endorsements in her backpack, the councillor faces former minister Reyes Maroto this Sunday in the municipal primaries, in a contest that has strained internal party relations.
An extra dose of empathy for municipal politics
López, 40, left her position in the Federal Executive of the PSOE to focus on the campaign. In an interview, she stated that she can provide a "plus" of "empathy, communication, and close interaction" to the candidacy. "Citizens are fed up with politicians talking about themselves," she criticised, calling for a "look outward" and focusing on the real problems of Madrid residents.
The relationship with Maroto has cooled following accusations of "disloyalty" from the former minister. However, López prefers not to engage in controversies: "That strategy does not build," she asserted, adding that if she wins, she will include Maroto and Mar Espinar in her team.
Housing, the mantra for day zero in Cibeles
Housing is the absolute priority of her programme. López promises that if she reaches the Mayor's Office, "day zero" will bring together an interdisciplinary team to organise the "attack" against the housing crisis. Her proposals include building more student residences, co-living spaces for the elderly, and rehabilitating buildings "plant by plant" to expand public housing. She will also review available plots to promote industrialised construction, with timelines of "eight months" to start seeing results.
"I do not conjugate the impossible. I expect a victory and that it will be the first step to reach Cibeles, which has eluded us for 37 years," declared the candidate.
López believes that the current mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, has done "important" things like the undergrounding of the A-5 or the Ventas Park, but it is "not enough". In her view, "life is harder now than it was eight years ago" and Madrid "is not a city that offers opportunities".
Decisive primaries this Sunday
The polls will open next Sunday in the Madrid socialist federations. López is confident in the support of the party members and is certain that her candidacy has represented a necessary "break". On the same day, the Spanish national football team plays in New York, and the councillor has already indicated that if she wins, she will celebrate "watching Spain and, surely, celebrating Spain".
For the residents of the capital, these primaries will define who will be the face of the PSOE in the upcoming municipal elections. The fight for the Mayor's Office of Madrid, held by the PP since 2019 with Almeida, is shaping up to be one of the main political focal points in the community.
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