Pedro Sánchez devours his allies and sinks them just to keep the PSOE afloat

Yesterday, regional elections were held in Castile and León. These elections offer many interpretations and potential conclusions.

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The official results can be seen here. The People's Party and the PSOE each gain two seats, Vox gains one, the regionalists of the Union of the Leonese People maintain their representation, and Citizens (Cs) and the far-left parties (Podemos and United Left) lose their representation.

One of the strangest reactions of election night came from the Socialists: the PSOE celebrated its result after losing the elections. Ultimately, these elections have once again demonstrated that corruption scandals and their incompetence at the head of the central government don't affect the PSOE, which still has a significant base of voters who are immune to any corruption scandal and unprecedented chaos in infrastructure.

The socialists have capitalized on Sánchez's "no to war" campaign, that is, siding with Iran's Islamist dictatorship by reviving banners they never once displayed against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, perhaps because they knew that doing so would have cost them the support of their most fanatical voters: those on the far left. In fact, these elections indicate that the PSOE is absorbing its communist allies, while losing votes elsewhere, specifically in the center.

The PP has gained almost 56,000 votes and Vox has increased its electoral base by more than 19,000 new voters. Beyond the possibility of mobilizing some of the abstentionists, this indicates that the PP and Vox are capturing some of the centrist vote that previously went to the PSOE. This is perhaps the vote most likely to change its preference if a government performs poorly and the least susceptible to political polarization. Because despite his official pronouncements, if anyone is interested in promoting political polarization in Spain, it is precisely Sánchez: he knows it is the ideal way to prevent many left-wing voters from staying home, fed up with the corruption scandals and the incompetence the government is displaying with infrastructure projects.

The problem for the left is that to keep the PSOE afloat, Sánchez is sinking his allies. Of course, they deserve it. They have decided to continue supporting a PSOE corroded by corruption, and in doing so, they have sent a message to the far-left: it doesn't matter that the socialists are corrupt, the only thing that matters is that they are left-wing.

The most fervent voter, upon receiving this message, tends to concentrate their vote on the option with the best chance of winning, which is the PSOE. This explains the collapse of Podemos and Izquierda Unida, victims of a process of absorption by the Socialists that, while it may save Sánchez's party, means the left is losing voters: in the 2022 elections, the PSOE and its far-left partners obtained 426,572 votes; yesterday they didn't even reach 417,000.

In recent years, the far left has acted as a stool that kept the PSOE in power amidst major scandals, including the indictment of Pedro Sánchez's wife and brother, a former minister he trusted implicitly, and the former organizational secretary of his party, and the resignation of his attorney general after his conviction for revealing secrets. The far-left has helped Sánchez avoid being held accountable for corruption, and it has done so by demonizing opposition parties, portraying them as "fascist," and even stirring up authoritarian threats against them. The result? The communist stool has now sunk, and Sánchez is in dire straits, but still afloat.

Even if the PSOE is desperate enough to celebrate something like this, they should bear in mind that a result like this in a general election would leave the left out of power, since the PSOE would no longer have a foothold to stand on: Sánchez has destroyed it. Anyway, let them continue celebrating. The Socialists are starting to resemble the nazi leaders who organized orgies before their final defeat, celebrating that they still had a few days or hours before being taken prisoner by the Allies. They're already content with that. It's pathetic and shows how low the PSOE's expectations are these days.
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Photo: PSOE.