Miguel Angel GallardoPSOE candidate for the presidency of the Regional Government of Extremadura, declared this week in a radio interview that it seemed “disrespectful to Extremadurans” to talk about a “subject unrelated to the electoral campaign” such as the process of the case of … David Sánchez, brother of the president and for whom both are being prosecuted, defended that everything came down to a “false complaint” to destroy “his 21 years of political career”. And as much as the socialist leader believes, the GAD3 investigation for the ABC and ‘Hoy’ newspapers on this electoral call in Extremadura indicates that the citizens to whom he referred care and are affected by this process in the face of the decision they will have to make in the elections next Sunday 21.
The barometer carried out between the 3rd and 11th of this month questioned the Extremadurians questioned about the case of the brother of President Pedro Sánchez and leaves an obvious feeling: 77% of those questioned believe that this affair will affect a little or a lot the result that the socialists obtain in these elections. This conviction is very present among eight out of ten of those who voted for the PSOE in the last elections.
The equally widespread opinion is that the Socialist Party should have presented, for this same reason, a candidate other than Gallardo for this electoral call. 80% of citizens support, somewhat or a lot, this statement, which enjoys almost identical support (76%) among its supporters, those who voted for the party to which it belongs.
Evaluation of the brother’s case
of President Pedro Sánchez
The Provincial Delegation of Badajoz
created a position for
the president’s brother
of the government
The PSOE candidate,
Miguel Angel Gallardo,
was aware and
authorized this hiring
Impact of the case of
Miguel Angel Gallardo
To what extent do you think that the PSOE
should have presented
another candidate?
Evaluation of the brother’s case
of President Pedro Sánchez
The Provincial Delegation of Badajoz has created a position for
the brother of the president of the government
The PSOE candidate, Miguel Ángel Gallardo,
was aware of and authorized this hiring
Impact of the case of Miguel Ángel Gallardo
To what extent do you think that the PSOE
Should I have presented another candidate?
Gallardo, along with David Sánchez and nine others, will be tried next May by the Badajoz court, accused of crimes of prevarication and influence peddling. They opted for the so-called “ad hoc” creation of a place for the brother of Pedro Sánchez within the Provincial Delegation of Badajoz when the current candidate was president. This process could be modified, as ABC has already announced, after the elections, when the socialist already has a record as a deputy due to his result at the polls and not thanks to the maneuver, valued as a fraud on the law by Justice and which he himself recently described as an “error”, with which he tried to obtain an express vote, could lead his case to the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura. If this were to happen, in addition to delaying the proceedings, it would raise another different situation: it could take with it those who are going to be tried, including the president’s brother. Gallardo said a few days ago that he did not care which court would judge him, but he initially showed his distrust of the Provincial Court and his desire to address the TSJEx.
71% of Extremadura residents believe that the Provincial Delegation has created a position for David Sánchez
And regarding the trial itself, the GAD3 barometer raises other interesting questions for voters: their evaluation and Gallardo’s role in it. And the answers don’t give rise to much doubt either. 71% of Extremadurans consider that the Provincial Delegation has created a position for David Sánchez, among them, more than half of those who voted for the PSOE in 2023. Moreover, practically three out of four think that the socialist candidate was aware and authorized the hiring of the brother of the president of government and secretary general of the PSOE. Among socialist supporters, more than half support this assessment of their performance.
It therefore does not seem that the candidate’s speech, which he continues to brandish in public, about his innocence and that this entire process is based on a “false complaint” intended to poison his political career, goes through even his most sympathetic voters. In fact, last Thursday, during the electoral debate between the ten candidates broadcast on regional television, when the President of the Council and candidate of the Popular Party, María Guardiola, described the role of her rival in this affair as “shameful”, he told her that everything was an “invention” on her part. “When this happens, you will look like a liar and you will have to forgive me,” he predicted.
The opinions revealed by the GAD3 survey are not the best for a candidate and a party which are not experiencing their best moments. It must be remembered that Gallardo, despite everything, was not the elected representative of Sánchez and Ferraz – he revalued his territorial power during a primary against the official candidate last January – and that he remains in power thanks to an “anti-law” clause that the PSOE included in its statutes to protect cases like this. The David Sánchez case and the delicate situation of the party and Moncloa, surrounded by several investigations into cases of corruption and sexual harassment on a national scale, have linked them on a path that could lead next Sunday to an unprecedented socialist electoral debacle in Extremadura. And it is the beginning of an electoral cycle, currently autonomous, which will continue in February and March in Aragon and Castile and León, which will once again test the survivability of the socialism of Pedro Sánchez and the strength of the Popular Party and Vox.
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