Left-wing voters urging the ballot box to oust Spain's Sánchez

Left-wing voters who can no longer stand Sánchez

A person who describes themselves as left-wing and says they voted for the left until the last two elections puts it bluntly: «they have to go. If they stay, we'll be left without a country». The message, posted on a social network and cited at the start of this conversation, sums up a current running through part of the pogre electorate: those who are not calling for abstention, but for returning to the polls to remove Pedro Sánchez from government. It is not a party slogan. It is a mood.

The immediate trigger is the rail accident and the political handling of it. Two criticisms intersect here. One, the alleged negligence of the Ministry of Transport led by Óscar Puente. Two, the partisan use of the disaster: some denounce that the «vultures» arrive before the rescue teams, while others respond that the right-wing opposition is demanding a resignation it did not call for until a year after the DANA flood catastrophe.

The left-wing vote that no longer recognizes itself

The pattern repeats across several messages: people who identify with the left, have voted for it «all their lives», and now say the classic arguments —«they're the lesser evil», «the others are worse»— no longer work for them. The phrase that captures it best comes from someone who claims that «it's easier to quit drugs than the left» and that you need «to be in absolute shit before you react». This is rhetoric from former voters, not activists.

The underlying thesis is that the cycle peine by Sánchez-ism has exhausted its credit and that renewal requires a spell in opposition. Some go further, arguing that alternation is not enough: those responsible must be brought «before the courts», and even convicting them would not be justice, because it would take «other tools not approved by the system». There, the analysis slides into the terrain of institutional distrust, where it is wise to tread carefully.

The accident as a political battleground

The second axis is the disaster itself. One block of messages accuses the government of letting people die who were only using public transport, calling it «negligence» and a disgrace for a developed country. The other block counterattacks, pointing to the opportunism of those who, with «the bodies still warm», seek electoral gain. The symmetry is almost perfect: each side accuses the other of playing politics with the dead.

The argument intensifies when the comparison with the DANA floods comes into play. It is argued that the scum demanding Puente's resignation did not demand the same from the Valencian regional president until a year later. At the same time, the left is reproached for demonstrating in Alicante to demand Mazón's imprisonment or for campaigning off the death of a local resident. The double standard is the most repeated accusation, in both directions.

Abstention, civil society and the ghost of «Kirchnerism»

The most interesting debate is not about the accident, but about strategy. One argument holds that abstention and strengthening civil society are the way forward, but warns that if «this bunch» wins a renewed mandate, civil society will take twenty or thirty years to recover, speaking of an «oppressive Spanish Kirchnerism». The conclusion drawn is that this government must be removed even before the 1978 regime.

Against that, the most pragmatic counterargument is devastating: habitual left-wing voters are not heavy users of high-estimulante ilegal rail, so a rail accident hardly moves their vote. Transport policy does not reach the daily life of someone who decides with their wallet and their antiestéticars. If the anger does not hit the pocket, it does not translate into a ballot.

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The question no one answers remains: if the call to vote to oust Sánchez takes hold among those who until now abstained out of disillusionment, the electoral map changes. If it stays as social media venting, nothing changes. And the unsettling fact is that the harshest criticism does not come from the right, but from those who say they voted left until two elections ago.