Sanchez got a big jolt on April 24 , as a Madrid judge accepted the petition from a far-right organization to open a political corruption and graft investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez. Sánchez released a highly charged public letter in which he announced that he was considering resigning and he would announce his decision the following week. His announcement led to disquiet in the coalition camp and he was persuaded not to resign but fight the battle both in court as also in political arena. Ultimately he understood the game plan of the right and decided to battle it out as the PM.

The battle of the Prime Minister and his coalition government with the Spanish judiciary is not new. It has been a major issue for Sánchez’s left-leaning coalition since it took office in 2020. Ever since, reactionary elements in the upper echelons of the justice system have operated as an undemocratic parallel power, aiming to discipline and undermine what they see as an “illegitimate” government.’. The current judicial offensive has been unrelenting since last November when Sánchez’s PSOE finalized a parliamentary alliance with Catalan nationalist parties in exchange for an amnesty law for those involved in the failed 2017 independence push.

The proposed amnesty was denounced in polemical terms by the country’s largest association of judges as “the beginning of the end of democracy” in Spain. The right-wing-dominated General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) characterized it as involving the “erosion, if not the abolition, of the rule of law.” At the same time, a series of terrorism investigations were suddenly taken up by the courts against Catalan politicians, journalists, and activists, in an apparent attempt to undermine the amnesty and destabilize the government’s fragile parliamentary majority.

Political observers view that the real opposition to the Spanish left coalition is not the rightwing parties but the judiciary and Supreme Court judge Manuel Marchena is the de facto opposition leader. “In Spain there is a problem with the separation of powers,” wrote El Diario editor-in-chief Ignacio Escolar in 2021. “But it is not the government that is overstepping the powers assigned to it but the judiciary. The latter is seeking to exercise functions that are not its own and engaging in politics. For quite a while the political right has been acting in coordination with the right-wing of the judiciary.”

According to the coalition sources, during the previous PSOE–Unidas Podemos coalition government from 2020–2023, such coordination was most evident in a whole series of bogus criminal investigations involving senior ministers. Public prosecutors, judges, and police repeatedly colluded to undermine the authority of the elected government. The 2020 investigation into PSOE interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska ended with senior policing figures within the Guardia Civil (including the commanding officer in the Madrid region) being removed from their posts for faking a key report. Former deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias was also subjected to months of judicial investigations and a media frenzy over baseless claims that he faked the theft of his assistant’s mobile (which had in fact been snatched by a corrupt police officer who was spying on him and Podemos).

None of the investigations went to trial. But the fact that some of Spain’s top judges were willing to open cases into government officials on the flimsiest of bases ensured that Sánchez’s team was bogged down in pointless controversy for months at a time — and created an atmosphere that the conservative Partido Popular and extreme-right Vox could exploit According to the analysts, “the right makes it impossible for the Left to govern in this country under normal conditions. . . .The political right and the reactionary state judiciary use their considerable institutional power to create an unsustainable situation for the government.”

As the Jacobin magazine points out the current judicial offensive, of which the Gómez case forms a part, can be traced back to the call to arms issued by right-wing figurehead José María Aznar last November, as the new left-leaning coalition between PSOE and Sumar was about to take office. “Pedro Sánchez is a danger to Spain,” insisted former prime minister Aznar, as it became clear that the PSOE and the Catalan parties’ amnesty negotiations were nearing an agreement. “We are facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis,” he continued. “Whoever can do something, should do it, and whoever can contribute, should contribute. There is no room for inhibition.”

The victory of the centre-left coalition led by the socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in the Spain’s Parliament on November 17 last year after two day of fiery debate disappointed the Right who was looking for the defeat of Sanchez coalition. The victory was possible due to the PM agreeing to the amnesty for the Catalan separatists resulting in the two Basque parties extending support to the minority coalition. Sanchez Government got 179 votes in 350-member Parliament. The term of this Government is for four years till 2027.

In the general elections on July 23 2023, the main rightist party led by Fezoo along with the far right Vox got171 seats , just five short of majority but all efforts by this right combine to form government failed as no other party was willing to support them. The most important was the two Basque parties with a total of eight seats. After prolonged negotiations, PM arrived at an understanding with the two Basque parties on the basis of the amnesty scheme for the separatist Catalonians who have been facing legal problems. Altogether, Sanchez succeeded in collecting 14 votes outside the Left coalition and this made his win in Parliament possible. The smaller parties had six seats.

The Amnesty scheme has created a big furore in mainland Spain as many common Spaniards are very angry with the Catalonian separatists for their secessionist movement since 2017. PM Sanchez’s Socialist Party as also the Communist Party which is the main Left party in the coalition had reservations. The Catalonian communists suffered at the hands of the protagonists of the separate Catalonia movement. But in the last few months, talks were held with the ruling coalition partners for a solution within the framework of united Spain. The communist Deputy Prime Minister Yalonda Diaz contributed in a big way in facilitating this understanding. All indications were that the Left coalition is stabilizing.

The latest political turmoil in Spain is taking place in the context of the coming elections to European Parliament to be held on June 9 and 10. The victory of more left leaning candidates from Spain is needed for preventing the Parliament to turn far right after the polls. The rightwing parties are trying their best to oust the Sanchez government before the EU elections, in collaboration with the judiciary. For Spanish coalition, it is the time for intensive battle. The Spanish Communist Party’s Deputy Prime Minister Yalonda Diaz has given a call to the Spanish people to defend the Republic. For Spanish people, the battle never ends. (IPA Service)