Madrid’s regional centre-right President, Isabel Díaz Ayuso accused the Spanish left of orchestrating a politically biased demonstration against its government on Sunday – with the only aim of winning the next local election scheduled for May 2023.
Some 200,000 citizens attended the mass demonstration in the Spanish capital, demanding more investments and extra personnel for Madrid’s primary care medical system, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.
Despite Ayuso’s claims, no political parties were directly involved in the demonstration, organised by health unions AMYTS, SUMMAT and MATS. Notable celebrities, including film director Pedro Almodóvar, were also in attendance.
In a conference held Monday in Madrid, Díaz Ayuso accused ruling socialist party PSOE (S&D), PSOE’s coalition partner Unidas Podemos (United We Can/GUE-NGL) and leftwing party Más Madrid (More Madrid) of “setting fire” to the capital with Sunday’s demonstration and trying to come to power “through confusion, agitation and foul play”, EFE reported.
In May 2023, Spain will hold municipal elections, considered the first litmus test for socialist PM Pedro Sanchez’s governing coalition with Unidas Podemos. After that, the parties will have to face the general election set for November or December next year.
PP’s Ayuso has been a regular source of controversy since she took office in May 2021, with repeated rifts with her political rivals in the left camp, particularly with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, but also within the PP.
“When left-wing activists try to confuse the public opinion by saying that a 24-hour health centre should function like a small hospital, or when they spread fear by saying that videoconferencing replaces a doctor in the emergency room, they are making slogans based on falsehoods,” said Díaz Ayuso.
“The left, instead of seeking solutions through agreement and negotiation, instead of calling for a national pact to solve the lack of doctors that affects Spain, which is the real problem, the real issue, has chosen to politicise the difficulties,” she added.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
