{"id":240213,"date":"2025-07-05T13:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T13:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/240213\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T13:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T13:38:09","slug":"fresh-scandal-hits-spains-ruling-party-as-official-quits-over-sexual-harassment-claims-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/240213\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh scandal hits Spain\u2019s ruling party as official quits over sexual harassment claims | Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s efforts to reset Spain\u2019s ruling socialist party after damaging corruption allegations that threatened to topple his coalition government<\/a> have suffered a severe setback after a party official resigned over accusations of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

The prime minister had hoped this weekend\u2019s meeting of the federal committee of his Spanish Socialist Workers\u2019 party (PSOE) would help the party move past weeks of scandals that have undermined the ethical and anti-corruption pledges on which it came to power seven years ago.<\/p>\n

But such hopes were flattened late on Friday night after the online newspaper elDiario published allegations<\/a> from various female PSOE workers who said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by Francisco Salazar, who oversaw institutional coordination at the Moncloa palace in Madrid, the office and official residence of the prime minister.<\/p>\n

The accusations prompted Salazar to announce on Saturday that he was stepping down from that post and from his new role as a deputy in the PSOE\u2019s organisational secretariat.<\/p>\n

He told elDiario that he could not recall any inappropriate interactions. \u201cI\u2019ve racked my brains over it and it seems mind-boggling to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep wondering if I\u2019ve screwed up and said something inappropriate to a workmate, and the truth is, I can\u2019t find [an example].\u201d<\/p>\n

Moncloa sources said an investigation had been launched, but added that no official complaints had so far been made against Salazar.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, S\u00e1nchez once again apologised for what he called his misplaced confidence in those accused of wrongdoing, adding: \u201cI was wrong to place my trust in people who didn\u2019t deserve it, but we won\u2019t fall short in a time of democratic regeneration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister, who is under growing pressure to call a snap election, said he had no intention of stepping down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe captain doesn\u2019t shirk his responsibility when the sea gets rough; he stays put to ride out the storm and guide the ship to port,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Salazar\u2019s resignation is the latest blow to the prime minister\u2019s authority and his judgement.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Santos Cerd\u00e1n \u2013 who served as the PSOE\u2019s organisational secretary and was S\u00e1nchez\u2019 right-hand man \u2013 was remanded in custody<\/a> after a supreme court judge found \u201cfirm evidence\u201d of his possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public construction contracts.<\/p>\n

The investigation began after the Guardia Civil police force\u2019s anti-corruption unit handed material to the court that suggested Cerd\u00e1n had discussed taking kickbacks on public contracts with the former PSOE transport minister Jos\u00e9 Luis \u00c1balos and one of the minister\u2019s aides, Koldo Garc\u00eda. \u00c1balos and Garc\u00eda are also under investigation and have denied wrongdoing. Cerd\u00e1n, who stepped down from his party role and resigned his parliamentary seat shortly after the news broke, has vowed to clear his name.<\/p>\n

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S\u00e1nchez, who became as prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People\u2019s party (PP)<\/a> <\/strong>out of government, is already contending with graft investigations relating to his wife<\/a> and his brother, who deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was also recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

The opposition, conservative People\u2019s party (PP), said the latest allegations were further proof of the prime minister\u2019s poor judgment and of his unfitness to lead the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has no credibility and his supposed fight against corruption and sexism is mere posturing,\u201d PP sources said on Saturday. \u201cS\u00e1nchez is as good at being prime minister as he is at talent-spotting. Either there aren\u2019t many decent people in his party or he\u2019s not very good at choosing people who deserve to be in Spanish politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calls for a fresh election are also beginning to bubble up within some sections of the socialist party. Emiliano Garc\u00eda-Page, the PSOE president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, said the time had come to let parliament and the people have their say.<\/p>\n

According to elDiario.es, Garc\u00eda-Page used Saturday\u2019s party meeting to ask S\u00e1nchez to consider holding a confidence vote in parliament. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll win it,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cBut if we don\u2019t, then don\u2019t rule out the option of calling an election.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s efforts to reset Spain\u2019s ruling socialist party after damaging corruption allegations that threatened to topple his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-240213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}