With the regional and municipal elections looming, the Partido Popular in Valencia has struck an important blow for equality of treatment. They lodged a complaint with the Junta Electoral, responsible for overseeing the electoral process, because several TV channels had publicised the fact that their lists for the May elections are full of people involved in corruption cases, including the long running Gürtel case. The PP claimed that this shouldn't be allowed. It goes without saying that the regional TV channel under their control would never do such a thing, those who rely solely on this channel for their information may even be unaware that their president could soon be on trial.
Today, after what seems to have been some pressure from national PP headquarters, the Valencian party has withdrawn their complaint. The lists for the elections contain, depending on what you read, between 9-11 important PP figures who are either directly accused of offences or who are currently under investigation. The decision to pack the lists with so many suspect characters has been seen as a further snub by the Valencian PP to Mariano Rajoy, who they know to be either unwilling or unable to act over such cases. Given that they regard electoral success as being equivalent to absolution, perhaps the only surprise is the accidental inclusion of some candidates who are not yet charged with anything.
4 comments:
Hi Graeme,
just a timely reminder of the significance of today's date, 14th April: the 80th anniversary of the Spanish Second Republic's inauguration.
What could and should have been but for the cowardice of the Western democracies... pero no nació para semilla.
And we still have people like Fraga encrusted in the political system today... only worse, this time they're enshrouded in the respectable cloak of democracy.
Yes, I got my copy yesterday of the 1931 constitution. Terrible days they were, recognising key social and human rights for the whole population instead of just the lucky few. I should read the current one too to measure how far things have moved backwards.
Being resident in Valencia, and having fought tooth and nail for my right to vote in the coming local elections, it pains me to consider abstaining from the vote. In a 2 party local election my only other alternatives are voting in favour of incompetence or corruption.
I'd go for incompetence I think. In the long run it's less damaging than corruption.
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