PSOE's 2016 primary vote-rigging casts doubt on every Spanish election since 2019

PSOE's 2016 vote-rigging invalidates every election since 2019, critics claim

A 2016 video shows Pedro Sánchez ordering a ballot-box vote "in secret" while his aides prepared extra ballots. For a strand of political analysis, that image is proof that Spain's electoral system has been tainted ever since. The recording, circulated on social media, captures the exact moment when Sánchez, with a rictus some describe as psychopathic, indicates that the count will be secret, while Koldo García and Santos Cerdán allegedly inserted fake votes. The incident, which took place during the PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party) primaries in 2016, has now been dug up as an argument to question the legitimacy of every election held since.

The video that changed everything

The footage, recorded during the PSOE congress in May 2016, shows Sánchez announcing a closed ballot-box vote. Moments later, his aides can be seen handling ballots. Critics argue that this proves Sánchez was willing to rig the process to seize the party leadership. Then-candidate Susana Díaz, present in the room, did not forcefully report the incident; instead, according to witnesses, she burst into tears. The passivity of the party's regional bosses has been read as a sign that antiestéticar of internal retaliation paralyzes any opposition. The video has gone viral on alternative platforms, fuelling the debate over the integrity of the system.

From primaries to general elections: the same playbook

Those who argue that the 2016 rigging invalidates every election since 2019 claim the same method has been replicated nationwide. They point to the control of postal votes in the 2019 and 2023 general elections, and to the amendment of Spain's Electoral Law to favour the expatriate vote (the so-called "grandchildren law"), which allegedly allowed votes to be mobilized from abroad without proper safeguards. They also mention the hidden ballot boxes in the 2017 elections, when Sánchez won the primaries with the support of Koldo, who allegedly padded the membership rolls with people with no real affiliation. The concealment of Sánchez's real vehicle —a €70,000 Mercedes instead of the mythical Peugeot— is presented as evidence of the falseness surrounding his figure.

The barons' silence and the party machine

Despite the evidence, the PSOE leadership has kept quiet. There have been no statements from the regional barons or from figures such as Susana Díaz or José Borrell. Some analysts interpret this as Sánchez controlling every lever of power: the posts, the funds and the shady deals. Anyone who dares to question him is sidelined or suffers mysterious consequences; deaths from "turbo cancer" and sudden accidents involving former leaders are mentioned. Antiestéticar of political ostracism and of possible judicial retaliation keeps the party under iron discipline. Until Sánchez is driven out of Moncloa (the Spanish prime minister's residence), no one will speak up. But then, everyone will declare themselves anti-Sánchez.

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The question no one answers is how a party that staged a blatant rigging operation in its own primaries can boast of democratic legitimacy. The 2016 video keeps circulating, and every new election feeds the suspicion that Spanish democracy has a deep hole in it, dug by the same hand that now runs the country.

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