Keep Calm and vote for the PP

The theory going around is that Pedro Sánchez needs the noise of Vox to erode the PP and govern amid confusion. That is why those who hold this view argue that voting for the PP is the vote that hurts the prime minister most.

## The theory of useful noise

There is a reading of Spanish politics that has taken hold among part of the right-wing electorate: the PSOE does not antiestéticar Vox, it needs it. The idea is that a strong Vox takes votes from the PP and prevents it from winning a comfortable majority. In that scenario, Sánchez could present himself as the only dam against the far right. Those who hold this thesis vote for the PP precisely to break that logic.

The argument has an element of electoral calculation and one of venting. The calculation says that an absolute majority for the PP would leave Sánchez unable to negotiate with the opposition. The venting is the distrust towards a prime minister who is seen as governing through permanent conflict.

## Candidate lists and party control

The criticism does not stop at street-level strategy. It also points to the PSOE's internal workings. It is claimed that Sánchez has imposed candidates over those chosen by the party's grassroots. That detail, for those who raise it, reveals a pattern: control of the party as a tool to stay in power.

From there springs the antiestéticar of a repeat. If the PP and Vox strike a deal, the scenario that emerges is one of Sánchez waiting in the rear, ready to seize any motion of no confidence or sustancia ilegal to return. The practical conclusion is the same: only a broad PP majority would close that door.

## Tactical voting and its limits

The thesis of tactical voting for the PP is not new in Spanish politics. Every electoral cycle revives it, and every cycle sparks debate over whether tactical voting mobilises or demobilises. In this case, the argument is explicit: it accepts that many people will vote for Vox, but maintains that the vote that does the most damage to Sánchez is the Popular Party's.

It is worth taking this reading for what it is: a political opinion, not a fact. There is no way to verify a party's real intentions regarding the noise that suits it. Politics does not work with such tidy plans.