Sexual assault scandal rocks Spain's 'most feminist' government

MADRID: A sex scandal rocking the junior coalition partner of Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has embarrassed a government that has prioritised gender equality and the fight against sexual violence.

The affair embroiling the far-left Sumar party has forced one of its top figures to resign and comes as Sanchez is facing two graft scandals involving his wife and one of his former ministers.

The scandal broke on Thursday when Sumar lawmaker Inigo Errejon, the party's spokesman in parliament, announced he was stepping down from politics.

In a cryptically written statement, he referred to "mistakes" without making any apology.

It then emerged the resignation was linked to a social media post earlier this week from a well-known feminist journalist and writer, Cristina Fallaras.

She cited an anonymous account by another woman who said she had suffered sexual violence from "a well-known politician who lives in Madrid", describing him as "a real psychopath".

Shortly after Errejon resigned, actor and television presenter Elisa Mouliaa announced on X that she had lodged a complaint with police against Errejon, 40, for sexual assault.

The alleged assault took place in September 2021, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

Errejon, a scholar of political theory, was one of the founders in 2014 of far-left party Podemos, which shook up Spanish politics.

He left Podemos in 2019 after his relationship with the party's then leader Pablo Iglesias broke down due to differences over strategy, and co-founded another party, Mas Madrid, which is more moderate.

Last year Mas Madrid joined Sumar, a new hard-left platform created by Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz who also acts as a deputy prime minister.

Both Mas Madrid and Sumar have opened investigations into the affair and stressed the importance of supporting victims of sexual violence.

'Hypocrisy'

Sanchez, who has frequently promoted his fragile coalition government as "the most feminist" in Spain's history, expressed his "confidence" in Diaz and Sumar.

He called his coalition partner "an organisation that has done and is doing so much for the advancement of women" in a message on X.

"The government is working for a feminist Spain where women have the same rights, the same opportunities and the same freedom and security as men," he added.

Spain's conservative opposition has seized on the affair to argue the left's pro-feminist stance is "hypocrisy" and demanded to know who was aware of Errejon's behaviour and for how long.

A top official with the main opposition Popular Party, Elias Bendodo, said "everything suggests" Sumar's leadership "knew about it and covered it up".

"And if they knew and covered it up, that's called complicity," he added.