The war within the Socialist Party of Madrid seems far from being calmed. After Juan Lobato’s refusal this Tuesday to present his resignation after ABC published that he had recorded before a notary a conversation with Pilar Sánchez Acera, chief of staff of Minister Óscar López, about the alleged leak of the email that the Ayuso’s partner sent to the prosecutor’s office grateful After his double taxation fraud, internal pressure against the leader of the Madrid socialists stopped growing.
The PSOE spokesperson at Madrid City Hall, former minister Reyes Maroto, demands that his colleague urgently convene an extraordinary meeting of his party’s regional executive and submit to a question of confidence. “We have to regain confidence. He must develop a motion of confidence within a regional executive committee that he will convene as soon as possible,” Maroto declared during a press conference at the capital’s town hall.
For the moment, the PSOE leadership is careful not to make a public statement on a possible dismissal or resignation of Lobato, which it privately considers politically finished. “We cannot understand that a person would go to a notary to record a conversation with a colleague. Nobody can understand him,” say Ferraz sources, who add that the party leadership will not confront him openly.
“Federal leaders cannot and must do nothing. Three days before a Congress, it makes no sense to start a war, that’s my opinion. Another thing is what activists say. Federal leaders will do nothing. I don’t know the PSM,” adds a senior party official.
Lobato had called the press for an “institutional declaration” at 9:30 a.m. and everything pointed to his departure. But it was not so. Lobato continues even after admitting this Monday to having recorded before a notary a conversation with Pilar Sánchez Acera, chief of staff of Minister Óscar López, about the alleged leak of the email that Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s partner sent to the prosecutor’s office acknowledging his double taxation fraud.
Ferraz and his party colleagues learned of Lobato’s decision through the press, since the news of the recording was published by ABC, which generated strong unease both within the PSOE and the government. “I don’t see what the problem is with proving the legal origin of this communication,” Lobato said at a press conference, defending the notary’s recording and questioning what he has been told since the Moncloa.
“It was the media, as I was told,” that published the aforementioned email. “What’s the matter?” I don’t see any problem, the other way, the other way. Now, given the reaction, as I said, of some leaders in my party, it seems that, one way or another, there was some doubt about the veracity of what I been said there. I certainly don’t consider that, I don’t consider that what I was told was false, that it was false that the origin of this documentation was the media, because that would be very serious,” he said. -he concluded.
Madrid’s socialists also point out that the last hours have been critical for Lobato and that there are internal movements and calls between officials to force his departure. At this stage, the various sources consulted admit to Europa Press that the party leadership at national level is also playing its cards “to bring him down”.
