The resignation of the communist deputy Íñigo Errejón this Thursday has detonated a political scandal that affects the government of Pedro Sánchez.
Sánchez tries to cushion the damage caused by this scandal to his government partners
After all, Errejón was the parliamentary spokesman for the Sumar coalition, the PSOE's governing partner. Sumar has five ministries and a vice-presidency in the government, the latter in the hands of the leader of that coalition, Yolanda Díaz, who knew about the accusations against Errejón when she appointed him parliamentary spokesman, according to Ok Diario.
Yesterday afternoon, in the face of accusations circulating on social media against Díaz and Sumar, claiming that they were aware of Errejón's behavior and did nothing, Sánchez published a message on Twitter expressing his "confidence" in the communist vice president and in Sumar, stating that it is "an organization that has done and is doing a lot for the progress of women."
Sánchez's message is a clear attempt at damage control in a case that could harm the government, further aggravating the situation created by the corruption scandals affecting the socialists. Ultimately, Sumar serves to mobilize far-left voters that the PSOE is unable to attract. If Díaz's coalition collapses electorally, the PSOE would have a very difficult time repeating the "Frankenstein" coalition that currently supports Sánchez.
A former socialist activist denounces the PSOE's inaction in a case of harassment
While this damage control operation was taking place, last night the PSOE was hit by its own Errejón case. Elisa Abril, former general secretary of the Valladolid Socialist Youth (the PSOE youth wing), published a response to Sánchez stating the following: "I filed a complaint internally and then in court. The party “kindly” asked me to withdraw the complaint “because of the damage to the party”. Guess who DIDN’T ACT."
In her message, Elisa Abril links a news item from the Diario de Valladolid, published on February 9, 2019 (when Sánchez was already general secretary of the PSOE and president of the government) with the following headline: "PSOE councillor sentenced for harassment of the former leader of Juventudes Socialistas." The news item indicated that the man convicted of harassment, a PSOE councillor in Berrueces (Valladolid), published dozens of derogatory comments on Twitter against the victim for almost a year for having supported a candidate on the councillor's opposing list.
The PSOE did not expel the convicted councillor until a second sentence was issued
Despite the conviction, the newspaper noted: "The executive has not taken action against the Berrueces councilor, who remains in office." According to the Diario de Valladolid, although he had been suspended from membership after the first court ruling, the PSOE did not expel the councilor until March 2019, after the Valladolid Provincial Court upheld the conviction against him for harassing the leader of the Socialist Youth. The victim had already resigned from her position in April 2018, despite the fact that her term expired in 2020. Currently Elisa Abril is no longer a member of the PSOE.
Elisa Abril's response to Sánchez goes viral on Twitter
Hours before publishing that comment, and when the accusations against Errejón were already spreading, Elisa Abril wrote this other message on Twitter:
“Shut up, don't complain, you're harming the party by doing so.”
It happens, it happened and I'm sure it will continue to happen.
The hypocrisy of many people in political parties is BRUTAL.
The message posted last night by Elisa Abril has already gone viral. At this time it has been shared by more than 3,000 people and has more than 6,000 "likes". So far, neither Sánchez nor the PSOE have replied to the message from the former socialist activist.
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Photo: PSOE.
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