Raid on party headquarters dials up pressure on Spain’s Sánchez

 

Raid on party headquarters dials up pressure on Spain’s Sánchez

 

The ruling Socialist Party is alleged to have commissioned individuals to discredit critics bringing legal proceedings against the government.

 

May 27, 2026 10:17 am CET

By Aitor Hernández-Morales

https://www.politico.eu/article/pedro-sanchez-spain-police-raid-headquarters-of-pm-socialist-party/

 

Spain’s anticorruption police raided the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party in Madrid on Wednesday, ramping up pressure on  Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is already reeling from a stream of corruption scandals involving key allies.

 

Spain’s National Court confirmed agents of the Civil Guard’s elite Central Operative Unit (UCO) had been sent to obtain evidence for a probe into a plot to discredit critics engaged in legal proceedings against the government.

 

It also announced the indictment of Ana Fuentes, who has been in charge of managing the party’s finances since 2021, for her alleged role in that scheme and other fraudulent activities.

 

According to the National Court’s investigative dossier, first reported by El País, the alleged fraud began in 2024, when Sánchez considered stepping down after growing exasperated with the questionable legal complaints filed against members of his family.

 

Socialist Party officials are alleged to have spent tens of thousands of euros commissioning individuals to go after the right-wing organizations filing the complaints. Fraudulent invoices were allegedly used to cover up payments made to the party’s agents, who were ordered to “systematically obstruct any legal proceedings that could directly or indirectly impact the interests of the government.”

 

Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the center-right People’s Party, called for Sánchez to step down, but the prime minister ruled out leaving office before the current legislative term concludes in August 2027.

 

“I cannot call elections for partisan interests, I have to call elections for the general interest of the citizens,” Sánchez told reporters in Rome following a meeting with Pope Leo XVI.

 

Wednesday’s raid comes one week after the National Court indicted former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a key Sánchez ally, for alleged money laundering, influence peddling and other criminal offenses committed in connection with the 2021 bailout of Plus Ultra airlines.

 

It also follows on weeks of corruption scandals involving members of his family, his government and his political party.

 

Coalition nerves

The big question centers on the cumulative effect of the Socialist party’s scandals on its coalition partners.

 

The parliamentary allies that allowed Sánchez’s left-wing coalition to form a government in 2023 are increasingly wary of being associated with the prime minister.

 

Enrique Santiago, lawmaker for the far-left Sumar party, on Wednesday said irregular financing was a “red line” for his group, which is the junior partner in Spain’s coalition government. He added that his colleagues would leave the executive if the allegations against the Socialists were proven.

 

Aitor Esteban, head of the Basque Nationalist Party, on Sunday said Sánchez should call snap elections before the end of the year, arguing that it would be “very difficult” for the prime minister to remain in power until the current legislative term ends in August 2027.

 

“There are already nine open cases, now Zapatero,” he said. “It would be irresponsible to continue beyond 2026 without direction, without a budget, without a stable majority, and with an agenda that is out of control and plagued by court cases.”

 

Another key Sánchez ally, the Republican Left of Catalonia’s Gabriel Rufián, said on Monday that the red line for his party would be evidence of widespread corruption in the form of illegal party financing.

 

Rufián recalled that after the center-right People’s Party was shown to have benefited from a massive graft scheme involving kickbacks, his party backed the 2018 no confidence motion that ousted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

 

“We would call for elections if there were a similar case with the Socialists,” he said. “It’s the logical thing to do.”

 

But Spain’s constitutional framework, and the complex alliances binding the country’s political parties, make Sánchez’s imminent exit unlikely.

 

Spanish prime ministers can only be forced from power through no confidence motions in which they are replaced by an alternate candidate backed by a majority of lawmakers in the national parliament. The most likely figure to replace Sánchez would be Feijóo, but his bid would require the support of both the far-right Vox party and regionalist groups like the Basque Nationalist Party or the Catalan separatist Junts party.

 

Complex dynamics

Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University, said that ideologically opposed parties are unlikely to forge an alliance to oust Sánchez anytime soon.

 

“There are a lot of factors in play: Basque nationalists have a coalition government with the Socialists in the Basque Country, for example” he noted. “If they push Sánchez out of power in Madrid, his party could hand the regional government to the left-wing Bildu group instead.”

 

 

Similarly, the Junts party is unlikely to make moves that would risk separatist leader Carles Puigdemont’s return from self-imposed exile. Sánchez passed a controversial amnesty of Catalan independence leaders in exchange for the party’s support for his government in 2023, but Spanish judges have so far blocked its application.

 

“In the end, no one is going to force him out, so it’s up to Sánchez to decide if he wants to call early elections,” Simón said. “And he knows that if he takes that route, he’s likely to lose them, and given the ongoing judicial proceedings, why would he do that?”

 

The analyst predicted Sánchez would attempt to keep a low profile until parliament goes into recess for the summer, with the hope that tensions will die down once Spaniards head off for vacation.

 

“Ultimately, he’s more protected in the prime minister’s palace than he is as a member of the opposition, so he’ll do everything to remain in power,” Simón added. “Of course, if the current furore doesn’t abate by fall, he may have to reassess his course of action.”

 

This article has been updated.