3 Feb, 2025 @ 13:50
2 mins read

Spanish Prime Minister fined for electioneering during official government event

Pedro Sanchez has been fined for electioneering during an official government event

Pedro Sánchez, the leader of the Spanish government, has been fined €2,200 for delivering campaign messages at an official event.

Politicians have two roles: they belong to parties, which have points of view on subjects like taxes or immigration, but when they are in office, they are supposed to behave neutrally, as representatives of the whole country.

Sánchez is the leader of PSOE, Spain’s equivalent of the Labour Party. It was in June 2018 that Sánchez called for a vote of no confidence in the then Prime Minister, the conservative Mariano Rajoy.

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The king appointed Sánchez as his replacement the very next day.

At a general election in April 2019, the PSOE improved its parliamentary position, winning another 38 seats. However, Sánchez still did not have an out-and-out majority, and had to form a coalition with “Podemos”, a party which many observers classify as far-left.

Sánchez called a snap election in July 2023, and was able to remain in power, although the conservative partnership (PP and Vox) won more seats.

It was during the run-up to this election that Sánchez spoke out of turn. Immediately after a meeting of the Council of the European Union, which Sánchez attended as Spain’s representative, a press conference took place.

In front of the cameras, he said that “unfortunately, Spain would take a backward step,” if his opponents, PP and Vox, were to win the election.

The Central Electoral Board is a non-partisan body, which oversees elections and it found that the Prime Minister had broken the rules by trying to score party political points when he was supposed to speak for the whole country.

Sánchez appealed against this ruling, but on Friday 31 January the Supreme Court rejected his appeal. In the words of the Court, he “violated his duty of neutrality during a period of intense electoral activity.”

The point the Court was making is that the Prime Minister has a lot of authority and enormous access to the media, and he should not abuse these privileges by making narrow ideological comments.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that “it is beyond any doubt” that Sánchez “discredited his opponents in an attempt to capture votes” in a situation where a leader should stick to speaking for the nation.

Institutional acts are not electoral campaigns: “In the short period between the calling of an election and the vote taking place, the Spanish people are entitled to expect that officials will perform their duties with neutrality and equanimity,” said the Court.

During a time when the whole country’s attention was focused on political issues, the Prime Minister should not take advantage of his office “to issue messages with the intention of attracting votes and undermining the opponent.”

This is the second time that the high court has ruled against Sánchez for violating electoral laws, since a previous fine of €500 had already been confirmed.

The Moncloa Palace is Spain’s “10 Downing Street”, and on that occasion Sánchez tried to hold an election interview there, in transgression of all precedent.

Democracy in Spain
When Franco died in November 1975, his dictatorship died with him.

The country was opening up to international tourism, and the modern media made it impossible for the old regime to keep the people ignorant.

The Spanish public wanted to join organisations like NATO and the EU. The government elected in June 1977 drew up a new constitution, and Spanish voters approved it in a referendum, held in December 1978.

Like Britain, Spain has chosen to be a constitutional monarchy, with a king who exercises very limited political power. Juan Carlos occupied the throne from 1977 until his abdication 11 years ago.

His son Felipe is currently the king. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Labour (PSOE) held power, and this was followed by a period of Conservative (PP) control, 1996-2004.

The Socialist Party returned to office for seven years under Zapatero, until Rajoy and the conservatives replaced him in 2011. Pedro Sánchez (54 years old) ousted Rajoy in 2018.


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