We come to the next general elections fully aware of the enormous relevance of this call. Beyond a commitment to the polls, this Sunday we meet with the defense of democratic values and the foundations on which we have built almost fifty years of an open, tolerant, egalitarian, supportive Spain with space for everyone.
This July 23, we decided between the Spain that advances or the Spain that goes back to the darkest stages of our history. In recent months, we have witnessed with astonishment that discourse that whitewashes sexist violence, that normalizes racism and xenophobia, that demonizes public services, that blesses inequalities and, most dangerously, that advances hand in hand with the Popular Party in a crazy conspiracy theory.
The agreements signed in these weeks in some territories of our country represent a warning to sailors: we cannot think that the arrival of dangerous profiles to the institutions under the mantle of far-right parties or their partners can remain a mere anecdote. Let us simply ask ourselves what would have happened in Spain and in the Canary Islands in the face of the frankly complex adversities that we have had to face in recent years if, instead of the left, we had the right in front of the main institutions.
There is no doubt, for example, that today, three and a half years after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, our country would not have emerged with the strength, unity and success with which it did, but, above all, without leaving absolutely anyone behind. We did it with a socialist government in Spain and with a socialist government in the Canary Islands, because in the PSOE we know that society only works if we have universal and quality public services.
We must understand that July 23 is the opportunity to stop those who trivialize the conquest of rights, freedom and social advances experienced in our country
in these more than four decades of firm democratic path. Until now these approaches were unthinkable; we knew they existed, that they were there, and now they come out of the cave -supported by the PP- to question a consolidated democracy like the Spanish one.
Faced with them, we are those who, from the acronym of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, continue to fight every day -and we will continue to do so- for real equality, for social rights, for freedom, for quality public services, against climate change, against social exclusion and against any attempt to cut human rights. The Government of Pedro Sánchez has done so in these years and will continue to do so from July 23. For this, it has the best team, with Loli Corujo heading the list for Congress of Deputies and Manolo Fajardo for the Senate. Freshness and experience; balance and, above all, a lot of socialism.
Lanzarote has never had so much weight in a general election, so the PSOE of our island can be proud of this leadership with which the island attends the elections.
We must understand, on the other hand, how much these elections mean for the Canary Islands. Let us avoid with our votes giving more voice to those who deny the State of Autonomies, the increase of powers for the Canary Islands or the shielding of our jurisdiction.
Let us vote yes to everything that makes us special and different, a Canary Islands of legal age to decide its future and the legacy it wants to leave to future generations. Let us not forget that just a few days ago, in our archipelago the Popular Party governs in pact with the Canarian Coalition despite a speech, that of its national president, who says he defends that the most voted force is the one that forms the Government. Once again, we see that with its contradictions, the promises and words of the right fall on deaf ears.
That is the PP of the year 2023, a PP without rigor, without vision, a PP that hesitates in the face of democracy and surrenders to the hands of Vox with the same comfort and complacency with which it supports in the Cabildo of Lanzarote a president of the Canarian Coalition who has premiered in office offering a truly embarrassing spectacle before an entire country. Let us also remember that the Canarian Coalition of 2023 also finds in Vox the necessary accomplice to touch power regardless of the price and without red lines. In Lanzarote we have it right here, in the Villa de Teguise.
We see that there are plenty of reasons to go to vote next July 23. Let us claim our rights and freedoms at the polls. Let us do it out of responsibility but, above all, for these more than forty years of democracy.
Isidro Pérez Martín. Mayor of San Bartolomé