Fiona Govan
AN ENVELOPE containing two bullets sent to conservative chief Isabel Ayusos ahead of the Madrid election was intercepted by postal workers on Tuesday.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said the threat against Ayuso was discovered by postal workers at a processing hub in Catalonia.
The death threat against the right-wing candidate came just days after a similar threat was received by Podemos rival Pablo Iglesias
Letters containing bullets were also addressed to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and to María Gámez, head of the Civil Guard police force.
Ayuso, who is ahead in the polls with her party set to double the number of seats in the regional assembly played down the threat, telling the 13 TV channel on Tuesday night: “These things must be faced with the importance they have: none”.
Last week rival Pablo Iglesias walked out on a pre-election debate in a clash with far-right Vox candidate, after the latter questioned the authenticity of the letter and accused Iglesias of orchestrating it to boost his campaign.
READ MORE: Polls show Spain’s right-wing set to win big in Madrid regional elections
“I believe little of what Pablo Iglesias says, and I think that all Spaniards, every time that we hear Pablo Iglesias say something, we call it into question because he has deceived us vilely over this last year,” said Vox candidate Rocio Monasterio prompting Iglesias to storm out when she refused to take back the comment.
The death threats have fuelled what have already been acrimonious campaigns for the May 4 election to the 136-seat regional assembly.
The latest polls show that the Popular Party (PP) is poised to win the snap election in the Madrid region, returning Ayuso to power and doubling their number of seats in the regional parliament.
The latest survey by Metroscopia pollsters showed Ayuso’s PP winning 59 seats in the 136-seat regional assembly, up from 30 in the 2019 election.
But this still leaves the PP short of an absolute majority meaning they will likely seek the support of far-right party Vox to gain power.
Centrist party Ciudadanos, who won 26 seats in the last election and were the junior partner in a coalition with the PP are headed for electoral oblivion with polls predicting that they lose all their seats.
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