Spanish prime minister’s supporters turn out and beg him to stay

Thousands of supporters of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rallied at the headquarters of his Socialist party imploring him not to step down over a graft investigation against his wife.The 52-year-old premier, who has been in office since 2018, stunned Spain on Wednesday when he put his resignation on the line after a Madrid court opened a preliminary investigation into suspected influence peddling and corruption against his spouse Begona Gomez.Sanchez said he would suspend all public duties until he announces his decision tomorrow.The normally hyperactive premier has since remained out of sight and silent.According to Madrid city authorities, the crowd rallying yesterday to beg Sanchez to stay on numbered around 12,500.Supporters held up placards saying "Spain needs you”, "Pedro don’t abandon us’, and shouted slogans such as "Pedro leader”."I hope that Sanchez will say on Monday that he will stay,” said Sara Dominguez, a consultant in her 30’s, adding that his government had "taken good steps for women, and the minorities”.Jose María Diez, a 44-year-old government official who came from Valladolid in northern Spain to express his support, said there is a real possibility that the far-right could take power if Sanchez quit."This will mean a step backwards for our rights and liberties,” he warned."I hope he continues, because Spain has to continue with him. If not, it scares me. We are afraid of what could come,” Leonor Romero, 56, a councillor from Huelva, southern Spain, told Reuters."He must continue. I think he is not going to resign. He will leave us orphans,” Jose Luis Trigo, 74, a pensioner, said.Inside the party headquarters, there were similar passionate appeals."Pedro stay. We are together and together we can ... take the country forward, Spain can’t step back,” said Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, the government number two."Today all democrats, all progressives, are summoned to Madrid against a pack whose only aim is to overthrow a democratic and legitimate government,” said Felix Bolanos, the minister of the presidency, justice and parliamentary relations.At one point, Socialist leaders took to the streets to thank those gathered."They won’t succeed,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria told the crowd.The court opened the investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint from anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far-right.The group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said on Wednesday that its complaint was based on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity.While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it focused on links Gomez had to Spanish tourism group Globalia when carrier Air Europa was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout.The airline sought the bailout after it was badly hit by plunging passenger numbers during the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.At the time, Gomez was running IE Africa Centre, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which had signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020.Spain’s public prosecutor’s office on Thursday requested the dismissal of the investigation, which Sanchez said was part of a campaign of "harassment” against him and his wife waged by "media heavily influenced by the right and far-right”.If Sanchez decides to remain in office, he could choose to file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers.If he resigns, an early election could be called from July – year after the last one – with or without Sanchez at the helm of the Socialist party.The right-wing opposition has accused the prime minister of being irresponsible for putting the country on hold while he mulls his decision."I ask all citizens not to be fooled. Spain does not have a problem, the one who has a judicial problem is Sánchez, his government, his party and his circle. Let them solve it,” Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), told a meeting in Tarragona in Catalonia.A survey, carried out for the PP by the polling company Sigmados, found 54.1% believed Sanchez’s period of reflection was a "political strategy” to gain support before the Catalan elections on May 12 and European Parliamentary elections in June.Some 56.4% of the 1,527 people questioned, said they believe Sanchez will not resign tomorrow while 21.2% said they thought the prime minister will call for a motion of confidence in parliament.