Republican Left and its candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, President Pere Aragonès, see in the recent decisions of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, a political maneuver to stop talking about the Koldo case and try to boost the PSC in the elections to the Parliament on May 12. For this reason, ERC has denounced the actions of the head of the Executive before the Central Electoral Board (JEC) so that it can assess whether it is in accordance with the law, also the publication of the CIS survey on this and so that it prohibits the interview that Pedro Sánchez has scheduled tonight on TVE to explain.
For his part, the national spokesperson for Ciudadanos and head of the party’s list for the European elections, Jordi Cañas, also announced that his party will take both the interview and the survey to the JEC, since, in his opinion, Sánchez “has achieved its objective, which is to control the public debate during an electoral process.” Cañas called his appearance “anomalous” and his decision “unusual,” while commenting that “it seriously contaminates the development of electoral campaigns in a radically undemocratic attempt to influence them.”
Dolors Montserrat, PP campaign manager, has expressed herself in the same terms, indicating that her party is also appealing both initiatives.
Sánchez announced this morning that he will continue to lead the Executive after keeping the country and especially his party, the PSOE, in suspense since Wednesday, when he published a letter to the citizens in which he announced that he was clearing his public agenda until Monday to reflect on his possible resignation following the admission for processing by a Madrid judge of a complaint from the pseudo-union Manos Médicas against his wife, Begoña Gómez, for corruption in their businesses. Furthermore, after learning of the President of the Government’s decision, a CIS survey carried out last Friday on Sánchez’s letter was published, which among other issues revealed that 44.5% of Spaniards believe that the Chief Executive should have resigned or dissolved the courts.
With its complaint to the JEC, Esquerra joins the PP, which on Saturday also reported the CIS survey to the same organization after learning of its preparation. After Sánchez announced that he will continue to lead the Executive, ERC has decided to appeal to the Board considering that the president “has taken advantage” of the electoral period “carrying out a media exhibition with the aim of diverting the attention of the media from the electoral campaign, thus undermining the fairness and integrity of the democratic process.
The appeal recalls the criteria of the JEC in a 2011 instruction in which it stated that “during the electoral period, the public authorities may not carry out any institutional campaign that violates the principles of objectivity and transparency of the electoral process and equality between electoral actors, principles that must be effectively guaranteed by the Electoral Administration, as provided in article 8.1 of the Loreg”.
For Esquerra, the PSC candidacy “is taking advantage” of the institutional declaration of the Presidency of the Government “to conduct an electoral campaign, evidencing with these improper acts the resources and powers of the public powers with the aim of favoring an electoral campaign, all relating the continuity of the President of the Government at the head of the Executive as a benefit for Catalonia”.
As an example of this “use of public powers with a clearly electoral purpose”, ERC highlights the fact that today Sánchez offers an interview on TVE, a publicly owned television channel, which is announced as “the first which he does after announcing in an institutional statement from the Moncloa Palace that the Executive will continue to lead.” It also highlights that the CIS has released the results of a survey on Pedro Sánchez’s letter.
Therefore, it requests the Board to declare that the president’s actions do not comply with current electoral regulations, to prohibit the interview or to compensate the other political parties participating in the electoral process if it is carried out, and, if appropriate, to open a sanctioning file for non-compliance with the electoral law.
However, the complaints promoted by ERC and PP against Sánchez’s interview on RTVE did not arrive in time to be analyzed at the meeting of the Central Electoral Board (JEC), which in any case did not plan to suspend its broadcast.
The JEC had a meeting scheduled this Monday that started at 5:30 p.m. and when it concluded, two hours later, none of those complaints had arrived.
In any case, JEC sources have reminded Europa Press that the suspension of a television interview prior to its broadcast is something exceptional, which is stipulated in the law, and which was not contemplated for this case.
