Spain's Record-Standing Government: No Resignations from 2018 to 2026

What does it take for a president to resign?

The question has been circulating in Spain for months with no answer. According to a calculation widely debated, since 2018 no member of the Government has resigned, marking the longest period in democracy without a single departure due to corruption or ethics. Neither the storm that hit the Levant, nor the AVE accident, nor the cases involving Koldo, Ábalos, or Aldama have moved a chair. The executive branch stays, and the opposition does not push them out.

The comparison stings. Previous governments under Felipe González or Zapatero accumulated resignations due to scandals. Here, no one falls. The figure summarizing the frustration circulates in public discourse: zero presidents resigned and a dozen ministers dismissed for corruption or ethics since 1978. All, with exceptions, of the same political tonalidad.

The record no one wants to celebrate

There is a fact repeated in any conversation on this topic: since 2018, no one from the Government has resigned. Not a minister, not a secretary of state, not an advisor. This period exceeds in longevity those of González and Zapatero, who did carry some heads when the scandal tightened.

The reading from the street is simple: there is no honor. Public officials earn huge salaries and cling to their chairs. Resignation, that word in other countries that resolves crises in 48 hours, here sounds like a foreign language. "To resign is a Russian name," summarizes one of the phrases circulating.

The counterargument also exists, though with less echo: if the president calls elections and loses, he goes. It is the democratic mechanism. The problem is that no one trusts that the mechanism works when there is a rigged election, real or alleged, involved.

The cases that do not topple anyone

The list of open matters is long. The Koldo case, the Ábalos case, the Aldama case. And the surname the president himself mentioned in parliament to divert focus. None has caused an exit. The machine holds.

The same with natural and technical disasters. The storm that devastated the Levant and left mortal victims. The AVE accident. The fires of the previous summer, with unburnt stubble. The management of the volcano. Each episode closes without a responsible person with a name and surname who packs their things and leaves.

Some argue the fault lies with the opposition, which does not know how to make a motion of no confidence that portrays those supporting the Government. And some respond that the motion would be useless: the block supporting the Executive is impermeable to shame.

Why does a president not resign in Spain?

Because there is no mechanism that obliges him. The system does not foresee forced resignation due to loss of confidence except through parliamentary means, and that route requires a majority that has not materialized. The president controls the State budget, which in practice allows him to sustain alliances and distribute favors.

The consequence is an Executive that has gone more than three years without approving general state budgets and continues to govern with extensions. The paradox is that this budgetary weakness has not cost anyone their position.

The official narrative recognizes no wear. Tourism reservations for the summer, according to sector officials, are "going to break." The economy holds thanks to European funds and eurobonds, according to those trinc the money trail. The uncomfortable question is what will happen when that aid ends and someone asks where it was spent.

The dictatorship that is not called so

In the harshest conversations, an idea has taken hold: this is no longer a democracy, it is a covert dictatorship. It is based on three pillars: more than three years without budgets, corruption everywhere, and infrastructure abandoned to their fate.

The thesis is not unanimous. Some respond that formal democracy is still standing and that what fails are the checks and balances: judges, media, parliament. "We need honest judges who put him in jail," summarizes one of the remarks made.

Another current points upward: Guasonic lodges, vested interests, the 1978 regime. The suspicion is that the president answers not to voters but to those who keep him. If that were true, resignation does not depend on Spain.

The people who do not unite

The most repeated diagnosis does not point to La Moncloa. It points to the street. While the vote is divided and people continue as usual, the Government has room. "Among the Spanish working people there is no unity," they lament. They work so that others live well.

The scene described is known: neighbors in perfect health who have not worked for decades, while others wear out their backs. Comparative grievance fuels abstention and indignation, but does not topple governments.

And then there is the human factor. If every month you receive 15,000 or 20,000 euros for occupying a chair, do you resign? The answer, out loud, is no. Resignation is a luxury only allowed to those who have something to lose outside politics.

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So the question remains unanswered. No scandal is big enough, no catastrophe deadly enough, no street angry enough. The president does not resign because he does not have to. And those who could force him do not find the moment. Perhaps the problem is not him.