After considering resignation
Thousands demonstrate for Spain’s Prime Minister
April 27, 2024, 5:36 p.m
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A corruption complaint against his wife got the ball rolling: Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez surprisingly announced that he would consider resigning. In Madrid, thousands are now taking to the streets to convince the Prime Minister otherwise.
In Madrid, more than ten thousand people demonstrated for left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to remain in office. At the rally in front of Sánchez’s socialist PSOE party headquarters, people shouted slogans such as “Pedro, don’t give in”, “Of course it’s worth it” and “Stay” while waving red party flags and banners that read “Sánchez, yes, do ‘ continue’, as shown on state TV channel RTVE. Others shouted “Democracy yes, fascism no” or “You are not alone.” Meanwhile, the Presidium met at the party headquarters and its meeting was broadcast publicly for the first time. Sánchez wants to announce on Monday whether he will remain in office.
Leading party members called on Sánchez not to resign. “Democracies become regressive when the legitimacy of election results is denied,” warned Sánchez deputy María Jesús Montero. That’s exactly what the right and the extreme right are trying to achieve with a “strategy of mudslinging,” she warned. “Pedro, stay,” Montero demanded.
Sánchez unexpectedly announced last Wednesday that he was considering resigning. He cited a corruption complaint against his wife Begoña Gómez as the reason. He canceled all public appointments and announced a decision for Monday. Until then, he wants to think about whether it’s all still “worth it, despite the quagmire in which the right and right-wing extremists are trying to make politics. Whether I should continue to lead the government or step down from this high honor.”
The complaint against the head of government’s wife was filed by the organization “Manos Limpias” (Clean Hands), which is classified as very right-wing. In recent years, she has attracted attention with numerous advertisements in the field of public administration and accuses Gómez, who does not hold public office, of influence and corruption in the economy. “Manos Limpias” later admitted that the ad was based on media reports that could well be false.