At almost 82 years old, Miguel Ángel Revilla plans to remain a candidate for the Cantabria Regionalist Party (PRC) after having actively and passively proclaimed his retirement. And it would not be a surprise – since he first declared that he was leaving politics 40 years ago – if he had not publicly announced that, this time, his succession at the head of the party which he himself founded more than four decades ago would have taken place in this legislature, in a context moreover where he finds himself in opposition after suffering a resounding electoral setback in 2023 which earned him lose the government Cantabrian.
However, in a new scenario, the former president of Cantabria has for the first time opened the door to continue leading the PRC’s candidacy in the next regional elections – which will take place in 2027 -, as stated this Friday in an interview with the SER channel. “If everyone asks me, how can I say no,” Revilla said in these statements collected by this newspaper.
And until now, what Revilla had conveyed to his people was that before the summer of 2025, a process would be developed to elect his successor as candidate, so that he would remain at the head of the formation as as general secretary, that is to say through a bicephaly which would allow him to retain the reins of the PRC. And this is still the project, but now the regionalist leader has mentioned a possibility which until now was not on the table, or at least he had not expressed it publicly: to once again become the headliner for the umpteenth time.
In the aforementioned interview on Cadena SER, Revilla insists that he will convene an extraordinary Congress to elect a candidate and in which his party will have to modify the statutes so that he can continue to exercise his functions as secretary general, a mandate which is renewed every four years and which expires at the end of 2026.
“I am going to call an extraordinary Congress so that Cantabria knows who is the person we are going to appoint to replace me, but if they ask me [que siga] unanimously, how can I refuse? “I founded the party, and those who are here are here for me,” recalled the veteran leader of the PRC, wondering again about how to reject a hypothetical unanimous request: “How can I refuse? They ask me insistently?
However, Revilla said he was aware of his advanced age and that could be a factor in the decision. And above all, he wanted to make it clear that its continuity must be “requested by everyone”. “If there are any doubts, then no, because I am delighted; At 82 years old, I must be a deputy until the end of this cycle and if I live a few more years, I will write a few more books”, he declared, emphasizing that “the problem is not the years , but the conditions” which will be “85 years old”. “You wake up one morning and you are no longer who you were the day before,” he admitted.
Candidates for succession
Regarding the possible candidates to succeed him, Revilla assured, as he has done on several occasions, that he would like there to be a single candidacy, but he is aware that this will be difficult to achieve. “There are several possible candidates because there are people who want to inherit this position,” he stressed, stressing that it is something positive because, according to him, it indicates that they have the conditions for doing so. He nevertheless stressed that whoever his successor is, he will not be able to match him.
“I already tell you that what I did in this match and for Cantabria, it’s wrong for me to say it but it’s true, it’s very difficult to do, because I dedicated my body and soul is Cantabria and the party was just an instrument, nothing more,” he said.
Asked about possible names, Revilla cited many of those in the pools, but some were also left out. Thus, he mentioned as possible successors the regionalist undersecretaries and regional deputies, Paula Fernández and Guillermo Blanco; to the mayor of Polanco, Rosa Díez; to the mayor of Torrelavega, Javier López Estrada and to the mayor of Valderredible, Fernando Fernández.
