Spain’s People’s Party meets in Barcelona amid internal crisis

Former minister Dolors Montserrat elected as PP spokesperson

PP leader Pablo Casado with runner-up Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría (by PP)
PP leader Pablo Casado with runner-up Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría (by PP) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

July 26, 2018 12:31 PM

The leaders of Spain’s People’s Party traveled to Barcelona on Thursday to hold the first executive meeting since electing Pablo Casado as the party’s head.

Casado’s main contester in the primaries, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, announced on the same day that she would not attend the conference, thus revealing internal tensions over the formation of PP’s new executive committee.

A member of Santamaría’s team said in a radio interview that Casado offered to include only two of her supporters in the party’s new leadership. “This does not properly reflect the convention results,” he said.