Spanish
Madrid.- Tens of thousands of people responded this Sunday in Madrid to the call of the conservative Popular Party (PP), leader of the opposition, to demand that the Spanish government president, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, "surrender" and call early elections, in a context marked by political tension.
About 50,000 people according to official estimates -100,000 according to the organizers- supported the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in the center of Madrid, in a mobilization called under the slogan "Mafia or democracy" which was also attended by several regional leaders of the Popular Party.
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"Surrender to democracy. Call elections, we want them now because nobody voted for you for this," Feijóo demanded in a fiery speech in which he showed himself willing to "lead the revolution of decency and freedom" and in which he was acclaimed as "president, president", amidst shouts of "Sánchez resign".
"Spain is ready and I am ready. And all that's left is for Sánchez to find the courage to set up the ballot boxes and ask the Spanish people," stated the leader of the PP, before a crowd that filled the central Plaza de España in Madrid with Spanish flags.In the first rows, most of the party's territorial leaders listened, many of them regional presidents, along with former presidents Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar.
The demonstration comes just days after Sánchez's meeting with regional presidents - mostly from the Popular Party - which took place in a tense atmosphere and confirmed the distancing between the Government and the PP.
The Socialists warn Feijóo that he will remain in the opposition
From the Government and the Socialist ranks, the call was criticized and the PP leader was warned that he will remain in the opposition because there will be no early election and the legislature will expire, as planned, in 2027.
Socialist sources emphasized that the PP has wanted to win the streets with a "shameful slogan" and considered that "Feijóo has suffered this Sunday an amendment to the entirety of his ways and tricks".
Through a message on the social network X, the First Vice President of the Government, María Jesús Montero, has assured that "the Spanish people voted and decided that Feijóo should be in the opposition" and has emphasized that "it would be time for the PP to assume it and accept it".
The PP "has filled the Plaza de España with insults and hatred", according to the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, convinced that "the right is very nervous".
“More than an act in defense of democracy, it has been an act of political desperation," stated the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, spokesperson for Sumar, the left-wing group that governs in coalition with the Socialists.
This Sunday's has been the sixth mobilization called by the Partido Popular against Pedro Sánchez's Government in the current legislature - which began in 2023 - and one of the most numerous.
