In the territorial federations of the PSOE, the head of government will not be pushed towards a specific date for the general elections which, if there is no advance, will take the current legislature until 2027. But they aspire for them to take place before the municipal and regional elections which remain pending. If in 2023 the general elections were held a couple of months after the local and regional elections; On this occasion, political life goes in their favor where the order is reversed. First, let’s look at the Spanish government.
This climate is established even if in the last hours the climate is different: from the desolation at the new revelations on the alleged irregular expenses of the former secretary of the PSOE Organization Santos Cerdán and his family, to the indignation at the conviction against the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz. An unexpected shock. In the internal chats of the PSOE militants the indignation is absolute, which leads them to temporarily alleviate the discouragement over the cases of alleged corruption.
A round of conversations with socialist interlocutors from different territories leaves a trail of assessments far from the decline of a few days ago after the rumors that would incriminate Santos Cerdán. The development of the trial against the State Attorney General led erroneously, in consideration of the content of the sentence without yet knowing the sentence, to believe that the conviction was impossible due to lack of evidence. It is not that the PSOE is defending someone who is considered guilty by the Supreme Court, but rather that “he is considered innocent”. This precision of a veteran leader, with a position in the federal executive, frames him in morality, to highlight that criminals are not supported.
Today it is not easy to find someone in the PSOE who defends the innocence of the accused former organizational secretaries, but for Álvaro García Ortiz the opposite is true. He is considered innocent because it was not possible to prove that he leaked the email in which the situation of Alberto González Amador, partner of Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, was explained.
The Supreme Court ruling, in fact, does not refer to the leak but to the press release that the Prosecutor’s Office personally promoted to deny the hoax launched by the Community of Madrid by Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, head of cabinet of the Madrid president. The Supreme Court finds that there has been disclosure of confidential data.
While awaiting the sentence, it was argued in the government and in the majority areas of the PSOE that the testimony of the journalists, with undoubted statements about their knowledge of the emails from sources other than the public prosecutor, was completely credible. Legal sources underline that the sentence will not enter into these testimonies, but will place the focus of the condemnation on the press release, even if at first it was believed that “apparently” there was no criminal trace in this writing.
From a political and not legal point of view, in the PSOE, as well as in large progressive sectors, this ruling, which will soon lead the government to replace García Ortiz, has rekindled the desire to move forward in the legislature. The goal of socialist territorial leaders is to boost morale in their constituencies and make citizens appreciate it. It is not easy because it brings with it a series of inconveniences on the part of national politics. The PP enjoys attacks on Pedro Sánchez in all corners of Spain. From the beginning of the legislature, for having had the left and the independentists as partners and, almost immediately afterwards, for the The Koldo casewhich later was Ábalos and then Cerdán. The socialists who operate in local and regional politics want to come forward and break the strongly established dynamic of which only the PP and the advance of VOX are protagonists.
The central government wants to show itself to be useful to all Spaniards, which will benefit its candidates for mayors, councilors and regional officials. Decisions will be made in the Council of Ministers that the parliamentary partners will be unlikely to reject, government sources insist, despite the evidence of Junts’ slammed door. Sumar will not relent in demanding and forcing the governing coalition to adopt social impact measures. The latter, starting with the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, have no intention of allowing themselves to be moderated in their assessments of the Supreme Court ruling. The President of the Executive declared on Sunday in South Africa, where he participated in the G20 summit, that he abides by, but does not agree with, the Supreme Court’s decision. It was not an improvisation to state that after the Supreme Court ruling, once known, there will be other “instances” to turn to; with implicit reference to the Constitutional Court.
The government knows that this warning from the president will serve as support for the PP to intensify its accusation that the government does not respect the rule of law. Sánchez assumes this will be the case, but, according to government sources, he will not compromise on issues where he believes he has room to act within the law to defend his positions. This will be the case for the entire legislature, between threats from Junts and warnings from the PNV.
