Sánchez's grip on state companies and captive voters in Spain

Sánchez cements his dominance: control of state companies and captive voters as an electoral lever

The economic paradox of the moment is that, despite inflation and slowing growth, Pedro Sánchez keeps accumulating the resources to stay in power. His control of companies like Indra and Correos, combined with the regularization of more than five million potential voters and the so-called grandchildren law (a Spanish law granting citizenship to descendants of Spaniards), paint a picture of institutional domination that recalls the mechanisms of Francoism, but with elections involved.

The battle over state-owned companies

Indra and Correos are not mere service providers; they are tools of influence and public employment. The government has entrenched its control over these companies, which allows it to manage everything from technology contracts to postal voting. The opposition, especially the PP with Ayuso comfortably settled in Madrid, offers no resistance. The result: a prime minister who pulls the strings of the economy without answering to Parliament.

Electoral demographics as a shield

Mass regularizations and the grandchildren law have expanded the electoral roll with voters inclined to support the government. There is talk of five million new electors who, together with benefit recipients, form a captive base that is hard to erode. Meanwhile, the silent majority narrative clashes with reality: those who criticize do not mobilize, and those who vote sustain the status quo.

A comfortable or irrelevant opposition

The absence of a national leader on the right — apart from Ayuso, who limits herself to Madrid — and Abascal's passivity leave the field open. The feeling is that the opposition prefers the stability of token criticism to the risk of governing. With the institutions in his pocket and the captive vote secured, Sánchez can literally laugh at his adversaries.

The question that remains is whether this dominance will hold without a cataclysm, or whether the economy will eventually break the spell.