All parties except Vox stop the pre-campaign due to the railway accident in Toledo
Abascal holds the Spanish government directly responsible for the tragedy: "It is a criminal organization"
MadridThe serious train accident this Wednesday has had a major impact on the November 29th pre-campaign. All parties except for Vox have halted the agenda they had planned for today due to the tragedy. The PSOE has already announced that it is also canceling an event it had scheduled for this Thursday in Vitoria. The political consequences of the crash between two trains in Toledo, which has left a toll of at least 30 dead, not only upends the events of the coming days but, with only one month left until the general elections, will have an effect on the parties' strategies in the coming weeks. For the moment, Santiago Abascal's party has already taken the opportunity to attack Pedro Sánchez, whom they blame directly for the events. "I do not intend to rest until this government, which is a criminal organization, sits in the dock to answer for its crimes," said the leader of the far-right group on X.
The attitude of Vox regarding the accident is the same as the one it adopted nine months ago with the Adamuz railway accident, on the same high-speed Madrid-Andalusia line that caused the death of 46 passengers. At that time, on the eve of the regional elections of February 8 in Aragon, all parties suspended pre-election acts with the exception, once again, of the far-right party. In fact, Abascal has recalled this precedent. "Once again deaths. Once again tragedy. Once again rage for the abandonment, ruin and betrayal suffered by the Spaniards," said the leader of Vox. Without yet attacking the Spanish government, the PP also underlined that "horror" returns once more. "Once again the immense grief for a railway tragedy," lamented the popular party's number two and campaign director, Miguel Tellado, on X.
The PP has already changed its profile picture, adding a black ribbon as a sign of mourning. The popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had an event in Barcelona—the forecast was that he would visit the businesses affected by the looting this Saturday night—finally canceled his agenda to follow up on the railway accident from the popular party's state headquarters in Madrid. "What is priority now is to attend to the victims and accompany their families," Feijóo underlined on X. The president of the Spanish government has also canceled his acts and said on the same social network that he is in "constant contact" with the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page.
The decision to halt the day's agenda has been the majority view among political parties and State institutions. The Congress of Deputies, the Senate—which will also have no activity this Thursday—and the Community of Madrid government have also communicated this. Its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has moved to the region's 112 Security and Emergency Agency to "coordinate all aid tasks" in the accident and has postponed to this Friday the approval, scheduled for today, of the regional budgets for 2027. In Catalonia, there have also been agenda cancellations, as is the case with Junts, which at the same time has also launched a criticism regarding the "serious problems that infrastructures are suffering." "It is necessary to assume responsibilities and work to be up to the task once and for all," said its candidate for 29-N, Míriam Nogueras, on X.
Abascal's frontal attack
The one who launched a frontal attack on the Spanish government for the "degradation of infrastructure" is Abascal who, at an electoral event in Santander this afternoon, defended his decision to maintain the agenda to "denounce" the situation. "They want to use pain and mourning to try to silence the protests," he argued. According to the leader of the extreme right, it is the PSOE that must "suspend its dances and its jokes about Renfe, which are a true insult to the Spanish people." Abascal thus referred to the festive attitude that the PSOE had exhibited until now both in events and on television programs. "We are not partying, we are working," retorted the president of Vox amidst shouts of "Pedro Sánchez son of a bitch" from some of the attendees.
