Allegations of sexual and workplace harassment that have reignited internal struggles within the PSdeG-PSOE will be at the center of the Extraordinary National Commission that the party will hold on January 10. This is what the executive chaired by José Ramón Gómez Besteiro decided this Monday. The conclave will also serve to “define a timetable of actions for the next municipal elections”, reports the party. And some of the voices critical of the socialist leader will be present, including that of the mayor of La Coruña, Inés Rey.
With this appeal, Besteiro takes a step forward to try to calm the internal fire that broke out by surprise 12 days ago. It all started with the complaint for alleged sexual harassment filed on an internal channel against the socialist president of the Lugo Provincial Council, José Tomé. Meanwhile, the rejection did not only extend to the leadership of the PSdeG leader, who did not take any action against his baron in Lugo until the matter became public. Three of the secretary general’s critics were denounced for harassment at work: the mayor of La Coruña, Inés Rey; the number two in his government, José Manuel Lage; and the councilor of Barbadás, Xosé Carlos Valcárcel. All deny the accusations.
The two former socialist councilors who pointed the finger at Rey and Lage sent a letter to Besteiro to inform him of their complaint and express their “deep concern at the lack of energetic institutional response” towards the councilor and her number two. Esther Fontán and Eva Martínez Acón, the latter former general secretary of the Socialist Group of La Coruña, complain that the Galician leadership has not asked them both to abandon their organic and institutional positions as it did with Tomé and the Barbadás councilor. “On other occasions, both at the state and regional level, the PSOE has been able to act with speed and determination, which is why we demand the same level of commitment in our case,” say the former councilors.
Besteiro did not appear after the meeting with his executive on Monday and has not yet commented on the complaints against Rey and Lage. The PP of La Coruña requested his resignation. “We are not faced with isolated and specific cases, we are faced with a pattern of behavior,” says its spokesperson, Miguel Lorenzo.
Both Tomé and Valcárcel left the party but remain advisors to Monforte and Barbadás respectively despite Besteiro’s insistence on asking them for the minutes. Valcárcel, yes, remained almost alone in the municipal council. He was reported on Ferraz’s internal channel for alleged workplace harassment of a city councilor who, in turn, reported a local government colleague for sexual harassment. The five women who were until now part of his executive have abandoned him and only the two men are now with him.
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