Spanish PM under fire amid graft trialRESIGNATION CALLS: The PP and Vox parties have said that the prime minister should step down and call early elections, saying the scandals expose systemic corruptionAFP, MADRIDA corruption trial of a former right-hand man to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is to begin tomorrow, a politically explosive case that has threatened to topple the minority government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. Jose Luis Abalos is a disgraced ex-Socialist heavyweight, a former transportation minister who helped propel Sanchez to power in 2018. The fall from grace of Abalos and Cerdan — two of Sanchez’s closest allies — has embarrassed a leader who took power promising to clean up Spanish politics. He took over from the main conservative Popular Party (PP) after it had been engulfed in its own graft scandal. They said that the scandals expose systemic Socialist corruption that reaches the prime minister himself.

Source: Taipei Times April 05, 2026 17:45 UTC