Overview
- Óscar Puente resigned from the government and publicly renounced leading the PSOE list for Valladolid but his name remains on the officially proclaimed ballot.
- The Provincial Electoral Board in Valladolid first allowed voters to cross out Puente’s name without nullifying the ballot, because candidacies had already been proclaimed.
- The Junta Electoral Central accepted a PP appeal and reversed the provincial ruling, declaring any ballot with Puente’s name crossed out to be null under closed, blocked-list rules.
- Puente has used social media to attack PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, citing published photographs that show Feijóo with narcotrafficker Marcial Dorado and making the dispute reputational as well as administrative.
- Puente’s resignation followed heavy criticism over his handling of the Urda train disaster that killed 69 people, and the central ruling could affect voter choices, ballot validity and campaign messaging in the run-up to the election.