Behind the banner « Mafia or corruption? », tens of thousands of people gathered in Madrid on Sunday, at the call of the People’s Party (right), to protest against the scandals that have tarnished the government of the socialist Pedro Sanchez, and to demand the calling of new elections.

“Spain can’t take it anymore. While some are breaking their backs at work, others are sharing bribes and privileges,” said PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, who did not hesitate to accuse the government of “mafia-like drift,” with the music from the film “The Godfather” playing in the background, in front of the crowd chanting “Pedro Sanchez resign.”

“No one should be above the rule of law,” insisted the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, representative of the hardline wing of the PP, who denounced “an institutional and moral abandonment” of Spain.

Was the PSOE financed with dirty money?

The noose is tightening around Pedro Sanchez, who has been in power since 2018. Two of his early close associates, former Minister of Infrastructure 
José Luis Abalos and his second-in-command Koldo Garcia, have just been sent to pre-trial detention in a case involving rigged contracts for the purchase of masks during the pandemic.

The ongoing investigation suggests that this is just the first link in a long chain of corruption. Behind bars, they are taking over from a third man, Santos Cerdan, who was also part of Pedro Sanchez’s inner circle and who has just been released after more than four months in pretrial detention.

The big question is: for whom were the three swindlers working? Were they trafficking for themselves? Or for the Socialist Prime Minister? And was his party, the PSOE, financed with dirty money? Doubt lingers, and the smaller political parties allied with the Socialists in Parliament are expressing their unease.

Several of them have already indicated that they will abandon ship at the first sign of illegal party financing. Their support for Pedro Sánchez since the no-confidence vote that brought down the People’s Party (PP) government, then led by Mariano Rajoy, in 2018 stemmed precisely from his promise of transparency and integrity, in contrast to a PP riddled with a series of corruption scandals.

Is the situation now playing out in reverse? A whole series of ongoing legal cases linked to the PSOE are sowing doubt, especially since, in Pedro Sanchez’s close family, his wife and brother are also under investigation, suspected of having benefited from influence peddling.

Some on the left are questioning the overzealousness of a justice system that is leaning too far towards conservatives, particularly during the surprising twists and turns that led to the resignation of the state’s Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, who was convicted on November 20 and forced to resign for violating judicial secrecy.

An appeal to « socialists of good faith »

But on the side of the Basque and Catalan nationalist parties, as well as small left-wing formations, there is recognition that it is becoming increasingly difficult to support a socialist government marked by so many shady affairs.

On the right, the People’s Party is trying to seize the opportunity.  Faced with a discredited executive, the only solution is to call elections, says Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, the leader of the right, who knows that his party, the PP, is the favorite in the polls.