Spain's snap election campaign reshaped by deadly train crash that killed at least 69

Spain's snap general election campaign has been thrown into uncertainty by a high-speed rail collision on the outskirts of Urda on Wednesday that killed at least 69 people — the second fatal crash on the same line in nine months. The vote, called by prime minister Pedro Sánchez, is due next month.

Sánchez, the Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE) leader who has been in power since 2018, called the election after rightwing and far-right parties voted down housing reforms his coalition government had announced in response to angry protests. The left had framed the contest as a last chance to stop the conservative People's party (PP) joining forces with the rightwing Vox party to roll back decades of social progress; the right saw it as a chance to end eight years of what it disdainfully calls sanchismo.

A country in mourning

For now, the crash has subdued much of the bitter language and posturing that has come to characterise recent Spanish elections. It could also sap Sánchez's recently resurgent momentum, with rail safety now threatening to overshadow his attempts to defend his record and remain in the Moncloa palace.

Spain's extensive high-speed network is not only a source of national pride but a service millions depend on for work, holidays and family visits. Wednesday's disaster, after a January crash on the same line that killed 46 people, has left people angry, bewildered and worried. Thursday's front pages reflected the mood: El Mundo wrote of "Another massacre on the trains", ABC of "At least 68 dead nine months on", and El País of the "Second high-speed catastrophe in less than a year".

Pablo Simón, a political scientist at the Carlos III University of Madrid, said the accident had a twofold impact. It drew attention to the state of railway infrastructure, suggesting a structural problem and pointing to a broader decline in Spanish public services, and it hit a government already facing an uphill battle, he said. Simón added that Sánchez's administration could not credibly blame the situation on austerity cuts made by its PP predecessor.

Even before Wednesday, the government was contending with housing protests, corruption allegations involving Sánchez's family and inner circle, and criticism at home and abroad over its handling of mass crossings into Spain's north African territory of Ceuta over the summer.

Political fallout

Sánchez has called two high-speed rail disasters in less than a year "unacceptable" and promised to strengthen safety measures "so that something like this never happens again". PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said any politician found responsible for the crash would be held to account, adding: "We can't go on like this; this kind of management just can't carry on." Vox accused the government of "killing" the victims and urged the supreme court to investigate transport minister Óscar Puente on suspicion of manslaughter and causing bodily harm through gross negligence. Puente rejects allegations of mismanagement, insisting Spain's railway system is "safe and reliable".

Simón said the contrasting reactions showed splits on the right as both parties compete to end Sánchez's government, and that the sombre national mood would make it hard to rally the roughly 1.2 million politically dormant, PSOE-leaning voters Sánchez had been counting on. An election campaign relies on optimism and high spirits, he noted — difficult when the country is in mourning over a tragedy.

Source: The Guardian.