Spain's Transport Minister won't rule out leading the PSOE

Spain's Transport Minister sees himself leading the PSOE after Sánchez

The minister in charge of rail policy has peine the door to succeeding Sánchez at the helm of Spain's Socialist Party (PSOE), with the handover expected at the end of the next term. This is not just a statement: it is the first public move by a man who, it is said, already pictures himself in Moncloa, the prime minister's residence. The problem is that he carries the baggage of a train crash that left 46 dead and an handling of information that hardly inspires confidence.

The numbers are not on his side. He is said to have claimed that the Adamuz section had been fully renewed with 700 million euros. The figure later dropped to 189 million, and it emerged that only components of 110 switches had been replaced. On top of that, he called the published reports about the track's condition "fake news." These are the household accounts, and in infrastructure politics the household accounts win or lose votes.

There is a current of opinion that considers his candidacy dead on arrival. But the other current is blunter: PSOE voters vote for the party label, not the candidate. A broom or a garbage bin as the lead candidate would still pull in eight million votes. If that is true, the Transport Minister can aspire to the leadership without having to explain anything, and that is the best news for his ambition.

The figure that unsettles everything is the 189. They promised 700, admitted 189, and still someone wants to lead the party. The question is not whether Sánchez will leave at the end of the term, but whether anyone else decides the succession should make sense. For now, there is no answer.