Spanish politician’s resignation sparks sexual assault scandal – The Irish Times

Sudden resignation of a senior Spanish politician amid a barrage of sexual assault allegations shocked the country and raised questions about whether his colleagues knew about the allegations against him before they came to light.

Íñigo Errejón, parliamentary spokesman for Sumara, the left-wing platform that is the junior partner in government, announced that he was leaving frontline politics in a mysterious written statement in which he referred to his mental health, “mistakes” and the breakdown of his “sentimental-emotional structure” .

It subsequently emerged that the resignation was linked to a social media post earlier this week by journalist Cristina Fallarás, who quoted an anonymous statement from another woman who said she had been the victim of sexual violence by a “politician living in Madrid”. Since then, Ms. Fallarás said she has collected similar testimony against Mr. Errejón from at least eight more women.

Shortly after his resignation, famous actress Elisa Mouliaá accused Errejón of sexual assault and announced that she had filed a complaint with the police. Ms Mouliaá said that in 2021 he locked her in a room and tried to have sex with her.

Errejón, 40, rose to prominence ten years ago as vice-president of the far-left Podemos party, whose success caused the biggest upheaval in Spanish parliamentary politics since the early 1980s. Known as an astute strategist, he fell out with the party and in 2019 founded Más Madrid, which railway became part of the Sumar platform.

His involvement with both Podemos and Sumara tied him closely to the feminist values ​​of these movements.

Sumar reported that Mr. Errejón admitted to “chauvinistic behavior.” Political platform leader and deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz said: “This week, Sumar began the process of collecting information about the testimonies that appeared on social media about Íñigo Errejón.”

( Spain is facing a wave of dissatisfaction regarding housingOpens in a new window )

Questions are now being asked about how much Errejon’s political allies knew about his behavior.

Pablo Iglesias, a former Podemos leader who was a close friend of Mr. Errejón until their high-profile split, said that “it was talked about a year ago” and that “there were many victims who did not have a safe space to complain.”

Although the police and Sumar are investigating, the political fallout is significant. This is seen as a serious blow to Sumar, as well as to the government of Pedro Sánchez, which is already under serious corruption investigation in connection with the former minister.

Conservative congresswoman Isabel Borrego described Errejón’s resignation as “a symptom of the hypocrisy of left-wing feminism” and called on Sumar to explain whether there was a cover-up.