Overview
- Santos Cerdán stepped down on June 12 as the PSOE’s organizational secretary after being implicated in a scandal over alleged bribes for public contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A Supreme Court judge cited a police report indicating that Cerdán was “complicit” with former minister José Luis Ábalos and aide Koldo García Izaguirre in securing contracts in exchange for illicit payments.
- Pedro Sánchez asserted he was unaware of the allegations, apologized to the Spanish people and vowed not to call early general elections.
- Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has accused Sánchez’s government of operating a “mafia plot” and is pressing for an early vote ahead of the scheduled 2027 polls.
- Investigations have also targeted Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged influence peddling and his brother, David Sánchez, faces charges related to influence trafficking.