The position of the People’s Party under Alberto Núñez Feijóo is in a moment of fundamental strategic importance. The latest polls no longer confirm a sustained and growing exodus of voters toward Vox, but they continue to show a challenge for Génova 13: the radical right continues to condition the expectations of a broad electoral victory. Although the variations are not dramatic, they reflect a persistent difficulty for the PP: to compete with Vox without diluting its traditional conservative identity or ceding ground to its harsher frames. It is a problem that has been recurring since 2018 and that, after the 2026 regional cycle, remains open.
From Galicia to Madrid: leadership out of context
Feijóo arrived at the presidency of the PP as a guarantor of moderation and solvency. His political capital had been forged in Galicia, where he secured four consecutive absolute majorities thanks to a blend of pragmatism, management, and institutional image. However, that political ecosystem, in which Vox did not exist as a relevant electoral competitor, is very different from the current one. In Galicia, the PP occupied simultaneously the space of the center and the right, uniting conservative, liberal, and moderate voters under a governance-oriented leadership in an environment where the party was hegemonic. But, in the national context, Feijóo faces a different scenario.
The formation led by Santiago Abascal makes its presence felt and conditions the public agenda, imposes topics, and sets part of the tone of discourse. In this sense, its presence obliges the PP to define itself more precisely on key issues such as immigration, democratic memory, feminism, climate change, or the territorial model. In all of them, Feijóo has tried to maintain a difficult balance: to prevent Vox from monopolizing the most ideologized vote on the right and, at the same time, preserve the institutional credibility needed to widen its electoral base.
“His problem is not a lack of experience, but the difficulty of translating to the national level a political formula that worked in Galicia under very different conditions”
That balance aligns with Feijóo’s own political profile. He is a prudent leader, with an administrative tone, more comfortable in the realm of presenting his governance than in engaging in cultural confrontation. That characteristic can project responsibility and experience, but it also raises doubts when public debate demands clearer positions. Therefore, his problem is not a lack of experience, but the difficulty of translating to the national arena a political formula that worked in Galicia under markedly different conditions.
The dilemma of the radical right: containment or convergence
The People’s Party has not yet managed to articulate a clear and coherent strategy facing Vox. Within the party, three courses of action coexist that, rather than complementing each other, often neutralize one another.
The first is the containment strategy, which bets on drawing ideological distance from Vox, emphasizing its extremist, Eurosceptic nature and its opposition to the liberal values that the PP claims in the European arena.
The second is the convergence strategy, which defends a pragmatic relationship with Vox in regional and local governments, arguing to “remove the left” and build majorities independent of PSOE.
The third is the strategy of tactical caution, which seeks to avoid direct confrontation with Vox to neither mobilize nor victimize it, but at the same time avoids setting clear political limits on its influence.
This ambivalence complicates national leadership. The result is a strategy that is not always linear and that tries to morph to fit different scenarios. While it calls for moderation, the PP normalizes, in various regions, agreements with radical-right forces.
Moreover, Vox not only pressures the PP in electoral terms. It also disputes the symbols and frameworks of Spanish conservatism. It has managed to push part of the debate to the right, open new cultural battles, and compel Feijóo to take stances on issues that previously did not lie at the heart of his message. Each attempt by the PP to reposition the axis of debate toward the economy, governance, or stability is strained by the confrontation logic Vox imposes.
Andalusian moderation as a virtuous differentiation
The Andalusian case of Juanma Moreno remains, even after the recent regional elections, one of the clearest examples of how to rebuild centrism from moderation. In the 2022 regional elections, the Andalusian PP achieved a historic absolute majority and stifled Vox’s growth. It did so through a virtuous differentiation strategy, based on three elements.
First, the appropriation of governance and the institutional tone. Moreno projected calm, empathy, and solvency. His discourse avoided ideological confrontation and prioritized tangible results in the economy, employment, and well-being.
Second, the normalization of a moderate identity. The Andalusian PP did not renounce the symbols of the right, but presented them under an integrative narrative that continues to leverage slogans like “Andalusia advances” and “Govern for everyone.” This widening of the frame allowed capturing disenchanted socialist voters and urban young voters, without the need to polarize.
Third, the emotional neutralization of Vox. Against the noise and provocation, Moreno offered calm and effectiveness. He approached it less from morality or ideology and more from electoral utility: a strong, recognizable PP with governing capacity made the vote for Vox less useful.
“The Andalusian PP achieved something that the national PP has not yet achieved with the same clarity: offering a conservative option with a friendly face”
This combination explains why the Andalusian PP achieved something that the national PP has not achieved with the same clarity: offering a conservative option with a friendly face, capable of appealing to the center without breaking with its traditional electorate. However, the 2026 regional cycle has also reminded us that moderation, by itself, does not eliminate all pressures. It can contain Vox, expand the PP’s space, and reinforce its governing image, but it does not replace the need for a defined national strategy.
The challenge for Feijóo: building a framework of competitive centrism
Feijóo’s challenge is to translate part of that formula to the national stage, where territorial and media dynamics are more aggressive. His margin is narrow: if he moves too far toward the center, he risks losing part of his mobilized base; if he moves too close to Vox, he risks his institutional legitimacy. The challenge is not only communicative. It is strategic: how to redefine Spanish conservatism without being eclipsed by the radical right.
A possible path forward is to repoliticize governance, that is, to endow technical efficiency with political narrative. For this, Feijóo needs to construct a country narrative, not just an opposition narrative. The PP knows how to present itself as an alternative to the Government, but it struggles to articulate precisely what political project it wants to embody beyond the promise of stability.
“Until he succeeds in turning moderation into a mobilizing emotion, he will remain caught between containment and concession”
In this way, Feijóo’s PP stands at a strategic crossroads. Until he makes moderation a mobilizing element, he will remain trapped between containment and concession. The Andalusian model demonstrates that it is possible to reduce the radical right from centrism, provided there is coherence between discourse, actions, and emotional connection with the electorate.
Feijóo lacks articulation of a more recognizable political identity. The PP’s challenge is to turn its desire to govern into a narrative capable of uniting a fragmented right without bowing to its extremes.
