Description: Following this week’s massive opposition protests in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has come under scrutiny over his involvement in a corruption scandal shaking his PSOE Socialist Party. Populist opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo called for resignation from the Prime Minister during the protests after an investigation led by Spain’s Civil Guard Central Operative Unit and authorized by the Spanish Supreme Court, unraveled collusion between PSOE’s campaign leader Santos Cerdan and public contracts. Cerdan has reportedly rewarded favorable conditions to companies included in public procurement in return for large sums of kickbacks alongside other highly positioned party members from the PSOE. Sanchez has denied his direct involvement in the scandal and emphasized that his party would continue its political project until the next 2027 elections. Ruling coalition members have also called on the Prime Minister to provide explanations over the scandal highlighting the unstable intercoalition relations.
Impact: The Spanish government is facing growing internal and external pressure in the form of oppositional allegations and intercoalition divisions. Prime Minister Sanchez has ruled out snap elections which could deteriorate his government, despite calls for political accountability. Spain’s political landscape follows Europe’s upsurge in credibility and popularity of conservative far – right parties in the form of the populist People’s Party. Opposition leader Feijoo could exploit the growing public distrust and fuel further divisions within PSOE’s ruling coalition which could compromise Pedro Sanchez’s position. Spain is currently experiencing low – scale political crisis which could spiral towards a full-blown political crisis if the government doesn’t address the corruption scandal properly.