Spain's parliament backs symbolic call for Sanchez to resign
Spain’s lower house backed a non-binding call for Pedro Sanchez to resign, 177-171. The vote lands as corruption probes reach his wife, brother and party chiefs.
Spain’s lower house passed a non-binding resolution on Thursday urging Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to resign, by 177 votes to 171 with one abstention in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. The motion had no legal force.
Charges were first filed in September 2023 against seven public figures in the so-called mask scandal, which centers on alleged kickbacks tied to public contracts for face masks and medical supplies during the pandemic. José Luis Ábalos, a former transport minister expelled from the Socialist Workers’ Party in 2024, was sentenced by the Supreme Court on June 22 to 24 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling and membership in a criminal organization. His former adviser, Koldo García, received 19 years.
A judge in Madrid ordered Sanchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, to stand trial on June 20 on charges of influence peddling and corruption, to surrender her passport and to report to court every two weeks after ruling her a flight risk. Another case involving Sanchez’s brother, David Sánchez, began in May 2024 and went to trial on May 28 this year. In a separate probe, police entered PSOE headquarters in Madrid on June 20, 2025 to copy emails tied to Santos Cerdán, the party’s former number three, after a judge ordered access to the material. Recordings of Cerdán, Ábalos and García discussing alleged kickbacks were in the police report, and around 500 bank accounts were slated for analysis.
The opposition People’s Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and Vox can keep pressing for resignations and early elections, while smaller allies can squeeze the government on every major vote. Gabriel Rufián of Republican Left of Catalonia has already questioned whether Sanchez can still hold on.
A simple protest vote cannot force him out, but a successful no-confidence motion could, and that would require a majority capable of rallying around an alternative government. Short of that, the other exit is Sanchez calling an early election himself. Otherwise, the legislature is due to run until 2027.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
