PoliticsHarassment affair shakes left-wing government in Spain
SDA
25.10.2024 - 16:27
Spain's left-wing government has been rocked by a harassment scandal. Several women have accused Iñigo Errejón, spokesperson for the junior coalition partner Sumar, of sexual assault.
25.10.2024, 16:27
SDA
Errejón resigned from all party offices as well as his parliamentary seat and also announced his retirement from politics. The 40-year-old had admitted to "unacceptable" behavior, the party announced. The state TV station RTVE spoke of a "political bombshell".
Opposition calls for further resignations
Politicians from the conservative People's Party (PP) used the affair to attack the entire government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: The affair proves that the government's feminist policy is "hypocritical" and a "farce". The PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, accused Sumar and Sánchez's Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of having known about Errejón's behavior for some time and having agreed a "pact of silence". PP spokesman Miguel Tellado called for his resignation.
The government, which has also been confronted with allegations of corruption, has been tarnished, analyzed RTVE. Sánchez reiterated on X that his government was working "for a feminist Spain". "I condemn all those who attack this project of equality. All my support for the women who suffer harassment and abuse", he emphasized.
Well-known actress among alleged victims
The scandal became public on Thursday following a revelation by a journalist and quickly escalated with more and more accusations. One of the alleged victims is the well-known Spanish actress and TV presenter Elisa Mouiláa, who accused Errejón on X and also filed a complaint.
Errejón was seen as a beacon of hope for the left in Spain. He is the last founding member of Podemos, which began as a protest movement in 2011 in the midst of the euro crisis and became a party in 2014, to leave the political stage.