The support given to Spain’s under-pressure prime minister by the Canary Island government looks likely to be withdrawn following the latest corruption allegations.
Regional president Fernando Clavijo’s Canarian Coalition party is one of those to have backed Pedro Sánchez’s investiture as prime minister in 2023 despite his PSOE party securing 17 MPs fewer than the conservative Popular Party in the elections.
The support is puzzling for many given that Clavijo himself is in power in the Canaries only thanks to an alliance with the Popular Party which ousted the PSOE from government here at the last regional elections, also held in 2023.
However, it now seems that a rethink is under way, with Clavijo openly calling for Pedro Sánchez to agree to a motion of confidence in the Spanish Parliament to see if he still enjoys sufficient backing from MPs to keep his government alive.
Reaction to the call by the Canarian president ahead of the summer recess is being monitored carefully by the other political parties who have ‘lent’ Sánchez their MPs to ensure legislation is passed and the PSOE remains in power. Losing a motion of confidence would trigger a fresh general election and the outcome is less than favourable for the prime minister.
Within hours of Clavijo’s call, one of the most senior figures in his party demanded that Sánchez resign immediately and not just submit to a motion in Parliament.
Rosa Dávila, president of Tenerife’s governing Cabildo, said that she “was going much further than Clavijo: Sánchez has to step down, clean his party up and place someone honest at its head”.
As reported here, several senior figures in the Spanish premier’s closest circle, including his wife, brother and a government minister, are under investigation for alleged corruption ranging from using their positions for personal gain to being part of a highly-organised network that guaranteed lucrative public contracts in exchange for juicy backhanders, which some believe may have gone to the PSOE party directly.
Photo: Canary Islands’ president Fernando Clavijo
