• Analysis
Spain snap election: train crash reshapes campaign as Sánchez runs out of road
Spain's snap general election, due next month, has been reshaped by Wednesday's rail collision near Urda that killed at least 69 people, as parties trade blame weeks before the vote.
A campaign already against the odds
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE) and in power since 2018, called the snap general election after rightwing and far-right parties voted down his coalition government's housing reforms, which had been announced in response to protests. The left has framed the vote, due next month, as a last chance to stop the conservative People's party (PP) joining forces with the rightwing Vox party.
The fatal collision on the outskirts of Urda - the second disaster on the same line in under a year, after a January crash killed 46 people - has now overtaken the Spain snap election campaign. Sánchez called it unacceptable for the country to suffer two high-speed rail disasters in less than a year and promised stronger safety measures so it never happens again.
Battles over tone on the right
The crash has exposed differing instincts on the right. Speaking on Thursday, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said any politician found responsible for the crash would be held to account. "We can't go on like this; this kind of management just can't carry on," he said.
The PP's own message was that Spaniards are not asking for "miracles; they're just asking for a Spain where things work again".
Vox went much further. It accused the government of "killing" the train crash victims, along with systemic mismanagement and cronyism, and urged the supreme court to investigate transport minister Óscar Puente on suspicion of manslaughter and causing bodily harm through gross negligence. Puente rejected the allegations, insisting that Spain's railway system is "safe and reliable".
Political scientist Pablo Simón of the Carlos III University of Madrid read the two reactions as a split over tone on the right:
"a more institutional one, which is what the PP is currently attempting, or a tougher, more aggressive one"
What the crash means for the left's turnout
Simón said the accident draws attention to railway infrastructure and points to a broader decline in public services in Spain, specifically regarding infrastructure. He argued the government could not credibly blame austerity cuts by its PP predecessor for the state of the railways. "That's simply not credible," he said.
The consequences for the campaign could be direct. Simón said Sánchez's government already faced an uphill battle and that before the crash "it was already highly unlikely that they could secure the necessary support". He suggested the sombre national mood could also stop Sánchez rallying as many as 1.2 million "politically dormant" but PSOE-leaning voters he had counted on for turnout.
A sombre press, an impending vote
Spain's newspapers reflected the mood. El Mundo's front page read "Another massacre on the trains"; ABC noted "At least 68 dead nine months on"; and El País mourned the "Second high-speed catastrophe in less than a year".
Sánchez heads to the vote with accumulated troubles: housing protests, corruption allegations surrounding his family and inner circle, and criticism over his handling of the summer mass crossing into Ceuta. The snap general election remains due next month, with the Urda crash upending a campaign in which the left had framed the vote as a last chance to stop a PP–Vox alliance.
