Spain's PSOE turns Sánchez's love into its campaign poster

Spain's PSOE turns Sánchez's love into its campaign poster

The election campaign has found its new literary genre: romance. A tweet from Spain's PSOE (Socialist Party) with the slogan "The force that can overcome everything" and a heart, accompanied by an image of the Prime Minister and his husband, was enough to shift the day's political conversation from the electoral programme to the kiss. The post, published by the party's official account, appeals to the Prime Minister's personal affection as a mobilisation argument. And that is where the problem begins: when the message is love, the debate about governing disappears.

From ballot-stuffing claims to the kiss: the campaign's frames

The reaction was not long in coming. Part of the conversation read the poster as an involuntary confession: if the central message is marital affection, the argument goes, it is because there is no record of governing to show off. In that frame, the word "pucherazo" (ballot-stuffing) appeared, linked to the 2023 campaign, along with the suspicion that the PSOE is driven by electoral calculation rather than conviction. These are claims that circulate without proof and should be treated for what they are: suspicions thrown out in the heat of anger.

Another, more prosaic current attacked the format rather than the substance. If campaigns are not binding and there is no mechanism to enforce the fulfilment of promises, why the expense? The proposal to scrap the electoral paraphernalia and save the budget has its accounting logic, though it ignores the fact that campaigns also inform. Or not.

The staging: kiss, mobile phone and closed door

The third front was authenticity. The spontaneity of the gesture was debated —"very little passion in that kiss", some went so far as to say— and the scene was read as a prepared piece of theatre. The detail of the mobile phone vibrating in the pocket served as ammunition for the joke: if the device stayed at home, what is that sound? The anecdote is minor, but it illustrates the tone: the campaign is judged as an audiovisual product, not as a political offer.

The electorate the poster takes for granted

Some went further and described the demographic calculation that, in their view, underlies the message: a majority electorate for whom the affectionate gesture works. The reading is cynical and unproven, but it explains why the poster exists. The rebuttal also appeared: that the Prime Minister is a "political corpse" and that the campaign guarantees nothing. Two incompatible narratives about the same poster.

In the end, the PSOE's campaign has achieved something difficult: getting people to talk about it without talking about it. Love as a slogan works on social media and empties out the content. If the message is the kiss, the record in government is left for another day. And that day never comes.