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Date Published: 29/04/2024

Pedro Sanchez continues as President

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The PM had threatened to resign last week over allegations of corruption

The President and the Prime Minister of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has announced this Monday April 29 that he will not resign his post despite intimations that he might do so, but rather will stay in power to fight against injustices like the “unprecedented attack” on his family by conservatives and far-right factions.

Sánchez announced last Wednesday that he would be stepping back from public duties and would consider whether or not to resign in the face of allegations of corruption that were made against his wife Begoña Gómez, coming to a final decision this Monday.

Thousands of people came out onto the streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities this weekend in support of the President, urging him not to resign and to resist against what they (and he) see as a far-right attack on his person.

Not a peep was heard from Sánchez all weekend, and it is said that he barely even consulted with his closest advisors about what to do.

Now, this Monday morning, he gave a press conference outside the Palacio de la Moncloa palace in Madrid to explain his decision not to step down as President of the Government.

“I have decided to continue,” he said. “To continue with even more strength, if possible, at the head of the Government of Spain.”

He continued: “It is about deciding what kind of society we want to be and our country needs to make this collective reflection, which we have already begun to do. A cleansing that opens the way to regeneration, to cleanliness, to fair play.

“I appeal to the collective conscience of the Spanish society that was able to overcome the deep wounds of the worst of its past, that overcame all democratic challenges in an exemplary manner, that overcame a pandemic, that lives in social harmony… Today, I ask the Spanish people that we once again set an example for a troubled and wounded world.”

Sánchez has been the subject of repeated political attacks, especially over his role in granting amnesty to Catalan separatists and for granting independence parties too great a say in national politics, but this is the first time he has threatened to resign.

A court case was brought against his wife following allegations that she used her position of power to secure lucrative private contracts. The allegations were made against her by pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which is known to have had links in the past to Spain’s far right and admitted that its information may have been based on fake news.

His detractors have alleged that umming and ahhing over whether to resign was a power play on Sánchez’s part to shore up support by playing the victim, ahead of upcoming regional elections in Catalonia and the European elections in June.

Image: La Moncloa

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