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The Spanish right mobilized over the weekend in defense of democracy and against the latest actions by the current socialist president, Pedro Sanchez, to occupy democratic institutions.
On Saturday, thousands of citizens took to the streets of Madrid to demand, from the Plaza de Cibeles, that the Spanish Constitution be respected and to warn of the left’s ambitions to take over the institutions.
Through a manifesto read at the event, they detailed the latest decisions of Pedro Sanchez and explained that these measures could affect democratic institutions.
“The mechanisms of urgency in the processing of laws are being abused. All these actions reveal that we are facing a plan of constitutional mutation, which is being agreed by totalitarianisms”, says the document.
It was also warned that if Pedro Sánchez is not stopped in these decisions, it could lead to a weaker democracy. “What is intended is to change the Constitution through pressure on the courts and partisan control of the institutions. This plan is undermining our institutions.”
Alfonso Serrano, secretary general of the Popular Party in Madrid, told El American that Pedro Sánchez’s government is destroying Spanish institutions. “He is destroying what every government should preserve.”
He added: “It is a government that has tried to occupy the institutions with party people, that has eliminated the crime of sedition to please the coup perpetrators and has eliminated the crime of embezzlement to reduce the penalty for the corrupt and all this to remain in power. It is a government that has given everything to the coup for power. But Madrid will be the beginning of the end of Sanchismo in Spain.”
Similarly, Serrano maintained that the Spanish center-right must unite in defense of democracy and freedom. “There is an exciting alternative which is the Popular Party and what we have to do is to join together to put an end to this totalitarian government that is going to end our democracy.”
The spokeswoman for Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, stressed that “Sánchez is a danger for Spain. He is dissolving the institutions and is attacking from the Government the freedom of the Spanish people. That is why we are here today without shame to defend Spain from the Prime Minister. To defend democracy and freedom.”
“Those who pact with those accused of terrorism are never going to make us bow our heads. We are taking to the streets, but, above all, it is more important to demonstrate at the ballot box,” Arrimadas added.
The right presents candidates
Then on Sunday, the main right-wing party, the Popular Party (PP), held an event to present the candidates for the most important mayorships in the country. Mainly, the activity was made with the intention of announcing the candidacy for re-election of José Luis Martínez-Almeida as mayor of the city of Madrid.
At the event, held in a theater on Gran Vía, the president of the PP and candidate for the presidency of the Spanish government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called on the right to rescue the vote and promote political change in Spain.
“This is the time to take the baton from the street, from the people who live in the street, the people who ask us in the street for a political change in Spain. Don’t worry, we are going to do it,” Feijóo commented.
He addressed the other right-wing parties and asked them to join forces against Pedro Sánchez and his allies from Podemos and the radical left. “I know they want us angry and confrontational, comparing us to a pro-independence demonstration. But that black and white Spain that they paint is not ours and does not work, we are far above the totalitarian project.”
Finally, he sent a message of hope to the citizens and expressed that “they are not going to find a PP neither angry nor suffering nor shouting, but we are going to do it with bravery, joy and illusion and filling with enthusiasm all the corners of Spain.”
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.