The deputy spokesperson for the PSOE in the Madrid City Council, Enma López, has gathered the necessary endorsements to run in the party's primaries, where she will face Reyes Maroto on July 19.
The deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group in the Madrid City Council, Enma López, has passed the endorsement process and officially presents herself as a rival to Reyes Maroto in the PSOE primaries to choose their candidate for the Mayor of the capital. The voting is set for July 19.
The deadline for collecting endorsements ended this Saturday at noon, after an intense week of contact with the membership. Both pre-candidates have surpassed the minimum required, although the final count of physical support continues throughout the afternoon, according to PSOE-M.
Maroto leads in total endorsements, but López wins in digital support
Reyes Maroto has obtained 1,370 signatures, compared to Enma López's 1,028. However, López's candidacy has demonstrated a strong capacity for digital mobilization: she has received 587 endorsements electronically, while Maroto has only added 186 through that channel.
This data reflects different strategies: Maroto has prioritised direct contact in groups and support from the traditional party structure; López, on the other hand, has managed to capitalise on the discontent of a part of the base seeking a more disruptive profile.
Two models facing each other ahead of 2027
Both councillors shared a campaign in 2023, when Maroto led the list and López was her campaign director and number three. Now, their speeches diverge: Maroto bets on continuity and a project based on “commitment, consistency, and trust”; López, for her part, calls for “taking a step further” and connecting with the neighbourhoods under the slogan “it's time.”
López's emergence has generated internal tensions. The Madrid federation of the PSOE considers her candidacy “inopportune” because it weakens Maroto, who is the favourite. Ferraz preferred a profile like that of Mar Espinar, but López, a regular in the media and with good oratory skills, has opted for direct engagement with the membership.
The challenge to Sánchez and the manual of resistance
López's strategy resembles that employed by Pedro Sánchez to take control of the party in 2014 and 2017: presenting herself as the voice of the grassroots against the apparatus. Aware that for the 2027 battle, an image of independence is more valuable than the “finger-pointing” from Moncloa, López applies the same manual of resistance that Sánchez used in his day.
The result of the primaries on July 19 will determine who will face the current mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, in the municipal elections of 2027. The Madrid socialist membership has the final say.
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