Feijóo flirts with Aznar's thesis of electoral fraud

BarcelonaThe People's Party (PP) has crossed a new line today in its attempt to delegitimize the Spanish government: it will ask the Electoral Commission to study the postal votes from the last Spanish elections. This was announced this morning by Alberto Núñez Feijóo in an interview on EsRadio, in which he cited the words of former President José María Aznar, who yesterday raised the possibility of electoral fraud by the PSOE. In this way, the PP is adopting an unfounded approach used by several far-right parties around the world and is increasing the pressure on Pedro Sánchez to call elections. just as the president of the Episcopal Conference did on Friday, to which former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero responded today.

"Why didn't the Episcopal Conference call for elections during forty years of dictatorship?" the former president asked at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain, where he took the opportunity to recall the opposition of the Church and the PP to this measure.

The PP's insinuations begin with an interview in The World. Aznar made reference to the two ballots that, according to the UCO report, Santos Cerdán placed in a ballot box in the PSOE primaries that made Pedro Sánchez the party's general secretary, suggesting that the Spanish prime minister could do the same with the state elections: "If someone is capable of tampering with internal elections in his party, why? Sunday.

In response to these insinuations, Sánchez complained in a message to X that the Popular Party "only values democracy if they are the ones who govern." Transport Minister Óscar Puente was harsher, calling Aznar a "psychopath," saying he had "evil written all over his face," and recalling when the former president claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or that 11-M was the work of ETA. Recalling these episodes, President Isla asked Aznar for "more humility and less lecturing" and recalled the former president's statements a few years ago. months, when he encouraged the destabilizing of the state government with the phrase "whoever can do, let them do."

"What we do is ask"

This Monday, far from distancing himself, Feijóo asserted that Aznar's example is "frankly good" and "sensible." For the PP president, "it's proven" that Sánchez "likes fraud." Despite asserting that he in no way doubts the officials at the Electoral Board, where he himself worked, he explained that the PP asked the electoral body to study how to improve the "most vulnerable" aspects of postal voting. PP spokesperson Borja Sémper expressed a similar sentiment. "We trust the officials, but not the government. What we do is ask questions," he said at a press conference. All of this was described as "delirium" by the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, who insisted that "in politics, not everything goes" and encouraged "all democrats" to come out and "defend democracy."

Mariano Rajoy has been more ambiguous, avoiding supporting Aznar's statements and simply pointing out that manipulating results is not "edifying," which could cause people to be "on edge." What Rajoy has done is call for elections because, in his opinion, "it's the only democratic alternative."