On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators filled central Madrid. With their guerrilla actions they sought to destabilize Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority government, which is currently under a persistent storm of corruption charges. The protest, organized by the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), called for an early general election under the slogan “mafia or democracy.” Estimates of attendance were all over the place, with the organizers touting that 100,000 had come out, and police estimate between 45-50,000.
Pedro Sánchez, head of the dominant Socialist Workers’ Party, is coming under ever-increasing fire. Over the past year, claims of corruption have arisen about his administration. Fast forward to February 2022, when a perfect storm became a major disaster. A top aide to former Minister José Luis Ábalos was arrested for allegedly accepting kickbacks to funnel lucrative face mask contracts to companies amid the pandemic. This incident led to deep concerns regarding Sánchez’s administration’s transparency. It raised important questions about the stewardship of public resources during a national emergency.
Beyond these allegations, additional controversy proved damaging to Sánchez’s candidacy, particularly Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez. Authorities are now investigating the minister for corrupt activities and influence peddling. This comes after a complaint from the anti-corruption NGO Manos Limpias. This group accuses Gómez of leveraging her position as the Prime Minister’s spouse to secure sponsorships for a university master’s degree course that she oversaw. The serious nature of these allegations has led Sánchez to label the case against his wife as “an ugly fit-up driven by the far-right groups behind the complaint.”
In the wake of these attacks, Sánchez has bravely and publicly stepped forward to defend himself. He terms it a “harassment and bullying operation” run by political foes and Michigan’s news media. He argues that these efforts have nothing to do with policy and everything to do with trying to subvert his government.
While the protest was going on, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of opposition party the PP, continued to demand a snap election. His attack focused largely on Sánchez’s management of the country and called on him to return to the electorate.
“Mr Sánchez, stop hiding, stop lying and stop running. Spain knows only too well who you are and what you have done. Yield to democracy. Call an election: we want one now because no one voted for this, not even your supporters.” – Alberto Núñez Feijóo
Feijóo did not skirt around the very real need for “a revolution of decency and freedom.” He pledged, no matter his fate, that the PP would continue to lead this charge, both in the streets and at the ballot boxes.
The context of this protest is especially striking in light of the focus placed on politicians in Spain over the last weeks. Isabel Ayuso, leader of Madrid’s regional government and a prominent PP figure, has faced controversy regarding her partner, Alberto González Amador. He’s been investigated for all sorts of alleged crimes—from tax evasion to falsifying documents. This has caused some to prematurely declare that both sides of the aisle are caught up in this area of corruption.
As protests continued throughout Madrid, most protesters were eager to explain their anger at Sánchez’s government. They pointed to persistent economic hardship and an overall feeling of opacity in government as reasons for their dissatisfaction.
“Because they’ve filled the Plaza de España with insults but not with people … While they sling mud, we move forwards.” – López
The PP does not have to look far in its own past for reminders of corruption scandals. Those very same scandals lead to its removal from power seven years ago. The party’s present leadership clearly wants to take advantage of the public’s anger to take back power.