Sánchez’s resignation scare pays off: PSOE poised to win in latest election poll

6 months ago 28

The Socialist Party of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would win the general elections if they were held today, according to a fresh poll published on Monday, meaning that Sánchez’s “letter to the citizens” in which he left open the possibility of resigning may well have worked in the party’s favour.

If the elections were held today, Sánchez’s Socialist Party PSOE (S&D) would win with a 9.4 point lead over the main opposition force, Partido Popular (PP/EPP), according to a “flash” poll of 1,809 telephone interviews carried out last Friday by the state-run public research institute CIS, giving the PSOE 38.6% of voter intentions, ahead of the PP with 29.2%, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

The poll comes after Sánchez announced that he was taking five days of “reflection” to decide on his future in a letter published on 24 April. He published the letter after a Madrid judge opened an investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged corruption and influence peddling.

The suit was filed by Clean Hands, a group founded by Miguel Bernad, a lawyer and former politician with links to the Spanish far-right, who admitted on Thursday that the allegations against Gómez were based on right-wing and far-right news reports.

Although it was speculated that Sánchez might resign or that new elections might be called, he announced on Monday his decision to remain in his post, stating that he still wishes to help “clean up” Spanish politics from the “toxic” atmosphere which in his view has been created by the PP and the far-right VOX party, the third largest force in parliament.

According to the new study, VOX would once again be the third most voted force with 11% of the estimated vote, and the PSOE’s coalition partner in government, the left-wing platform Sumar, would obtain 7.2%.

The almost defunct left-wing Podemos party, a former member of Sumar, from which it split because of personal rivalry between their leaders, fell to 2.6% while former Catalan president Carles Puigdmont’s right-wing separatist party JxCat and its left-wing rival ERC would get 1.4% and 1.2% respectively.

The pro-independence political parties in the Basque country, the moderate nationalist PNV and its far-left-wing rival EH-Bildu, also received less support, according to the poll.

Key parliamentary support for the stability of Sánchez’s government comes from JXCat and ERC, as well as PNV and EH-Bildu.

In the coming days, Spain will enter an intense electoral cycle, starting with elections in Catalonia on 12 May, which will have a direct impact on Sánchez’s government, followed by the EU elections on 9 June.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)