Madrid: Spain’s Pedro Sanchez said on Monday he would remain prime minister after threatening to resign against what he denounced as a political smear campaign by the right.
“I chose to stay,” the 52-year-old Socialist leader said in an anticipated public address amid five days of uncertainty in Spain.
Sánchez, who has been in office since 2018, quit politics on Wednesday, saying he would step down after the court confirmed a preliminary investigation into alleged embezzlement and corruption by his wife, Begona Gomez.
The complaint was brought by a right-wing anti-corruption NGO. The right-wing opposition People’s Party (PP) also demanded answers.
Sánchez’s response to a previous tweet by X immediately drew attention to toxic political practices targeting politicians’ families and the future of Spanish politics.
Sánchez dismissed the move as a “political calculation” and called for public reflection on the growing political polarization, which he said led to “deliberate disinformation”.
“We have allowed this filth to destroy our political and social life in an unimaginable toxic way for the last few years… Do we really want this Spain?” asked.
His decision to stay was followed by thousands of emotional supporters who chanted on Saturday: “Pedro, stay!”
In an interview with Spanish public television on Monday evening, Sanchez said his wife had also called on him to resign.
He said a “disinformation” campaign had tried to make him the “frontline of the common enemy” and that it would “intensify”.
“They don’t want to stop, I know very well,” he said, calling for “an end to discrimination in public life.”
