(Adnkronos) – The People’s Party is widely ahead in the polls in Spain, at 34% against 27% for Psoe, while the government led by Pedro Sanchez’s socialists is overwhelmed by scandals. So much so that the conservative leader Alberto Nuñez Feijóo has never seemed so close to becoming Spanish prime minister. Politico writes this, stressing that the indignation over the corruption investigations into the Prime Minister’s Socialist Party is reaching such a level that Spain could be heading for early elections. Over the weekend, Feijóo will chair an extraordinary convention of his party in Madrid to confirm his leadership position and reinforce the idea that he is ready to govern. Furthermore, as El Paìs explains, the conservative leader will contact government partners through parliamentary spokesman Miguel Tellado to verify “whether their support for Psoe remains intact”.
“Let’s end this nightmare,” he told his supporters, harshly attacking Sanchez. “We just want to know when he will sign his resignation,” he added. But for the motion of no confidence “I don’t lack the will, I lack four votes,” explained Feijóo. Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told Politico that “Feijóo knows it’s now or never, because I don’t think he’ll have another chance like this.” An excellent opportunity, but nothing guaranteed, Politico points out, recalling that the People’s Party is also facing accusations of corruption and has to manage internal competition between the various exponents.
Despite having obtained the most votes in 2023, Feijóo failed to form a governing majority. Sanchez, on the other hand, was able to bring together a broad coalition of allies, a handful of small Catalan and Basque parties, who detest the Pp’s hostility to separatism and its willingness to confront the far-right Vox party. Feijóo, 63, took the reins of the People’s Party in 2022, after winning four consecutive elections in the northwestern region of Galicia, a Pp stronghold. His attacks on the Sanchez government for its willingness to collaborate with the separatists and for the amnesty of the Catalan separatists were harsh.
Feijóo described Sánchez as a ‘caudillo’, a term used to refer to the dictator Francisco Franco, “an international disgrace” and “a real threat to democracy”. The same combative approach in Brussels, where the Pp unsuccessfully attempted to block the appointment of Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera as European Commissioner. In May, the Pp succeeded in thwarting the Spanish government’s plan to make Catalan, Basque and Galician official languages of the EU, a commitment Sanchez had made to the nationalist parties in his coalition.
“Feijóo has undergone a process of radicalization and now his position is that of a classic conservative leader from Madrid,” said Bartomeu. Feijóo even accused Sanchez of fraud in the 2023 general election. Highlighting the apparent irregularities in the 2014 Socialist primaries, he stated: “If you’ve already robbed a jewelry store, why not rob a bank?”. Comments that, according to analysts, would mark a shift by the Po leader towards Vox. “Feijóo just needs to say that the Earth is flat and that vaccines kill,” said left-wing commentator Esther Palomera.
Sanchez came to power in 2018, removing Mariano Rajoy’s Pp from government, overwhelmed by scandal. The judicial repercussions of that period persist, with several cases involving conservative politicians. In the spring of 2026, the trial of former senior Pp officials accused of orchestrating an operation to destroy compromising evidence against the party is scheduled. The trial could consolidate the idea that corruption plagues both traditional parties, strengthening the far right in the polls. Meanwhile, the Socialists recalled Feijóo’s previous friendship with a notorious Galician drug trafficker, Marcial Dorado. In 2013, photos were published showing the two men on holiday together in the 1990s.
