The former president of La Rioja renounces to run for re-election as regional leader of the PSOE | Spain

The former president of La Rioja, the socialist Concha Andreu, has decided to step aside a year after the regional and local elections, in which the PP swept: it won by an absolute majority in the community and in the capital, Logroño, and He obtained victory in more than one ce…

The former president of La Rioja, the socialist Concha Andreu, has decided to step aside a year after the regional and local elections, in which the PP swept: it won by an absolute majority in the community and in the capital, Logroño, and He obtained victory in more than a hundred of the 174 municipalities in the region. This Monday, Andreu informed the leadership of the PSOE in La Rioja that she is renouncing the re-election of the general secretary of her party. She will also step down as an MP in Parliament, where she has held a seat since 2011.

In an open letter to the regional socialist militancy, Andreu has emphasized that for her “it has been a pride to be the first woman to occupy the presidency of La Rioja and also the first woman to be general secretary of the PSOE La Rioja.” “I am fully aware that, without the PSOE as a whole, and without you as a militant, I would not have achieved it,” added the former president in the letter, which comes after communicating her decision at the meeting of the party’s executive committee, held in Logroño. .

Andreu will continue in politics, but will be limited to the Senate, where he holds a seat after the last general elections. The socialist leader will remain at the head of the PSOE leadership in La Rioja until the next congress is held, which does not yet have a date.

The current senator governed the least populated autonomous community in Spain (324,000 inhabitants) in the previous legislature, from 2019 to 2023, with the support of Podemos and Izquierda Unida. The left-wing government was almost a mere incident in a history marked by PP governments, which had governed uninterruptedly for the previous 24 years. During her mandate, Andreu faced a period of sessions in which she had to combat internal tensions in her Executive; She dismissed six of the nine advisors in her cabinet, including her predecessor as the general secretary of the PSOE in La Rioja, Francisco Ocón, in addition to fifty senior officials. She kept in office, however, the counselor of Equality of Podemos, Raquel Moreno, who finished the legislature, despite being expelled from that formation.

Andreu’s mandate was marked by the impact of the pandemic and the health emergency slowed the takeoff of strategic projects in the community, linked to the new language economy, with San Millán de la Cogolla — cradle of Spanish — as the nerve center. in addition to the circular economy and the cultural and tourist attraction of wine.