How the train disaster could affect the Spanish election

 

Lina Conrad/TT

 

Published 05:36Updated 06:09

         

        Över 60 personer har hittats döda efter olyckan. Foto: Manu Fernandez/AP/TT

More than 60 people have been found dead following the accident. Photo: Manu Fernandez/AP/TT

More than 60 people died in a collision between two high-speed trains in Spain on Wednesday.

The fatal accident could be exploited to score political points in the upcoming parliamentary election, according to Spain expert Thomas Gustafsson.

"It is clear that the opposition will try to pin this on the government," he tells TT.

In early October, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the parliamentary election would be brought forward to November 29. This followed the rejection of the government’s housing package—an initiative intended to address the country’s ongoing housing crisis.

With one month left in the election campaign, Spaniards woke up on Wednesday morning to the news that two high-speed trains had collided 100 kilometers south of Madrid.

A heated election campaign

The Spanish government has suspended all scheduled engagements for Wednesday in light of the accident.

"The election campaign is already very heated. The opposition will try to keep this on the agenda as much as possible," says Thomas Gustafsson, who has authored several books about Spain.

"One might also expect the right wing to try to shift focus away from the discontent surrounding the rental and housing market," Gustafsson adds.

Instead, the focus will shift toward Wednesday’s incident—the second collision involving high-speed trains in Spain. The first incident occurred as recently as January of this year, when around 45 people died near Adamuz in Andalusia. A train derailed and collided with another train that was traveling from Málaga toward Madrid.

Criticism expected

Transport Minister Óscar Puente made a statement following Wednesday’s accident.

“We are absolutely devastated,” he said, according to the Spanish outlet Informativos Telecinco.

The opposition had already leveled criticism at the minister following the first accident in January.

“He was perceived as having taken the previous accident too lightly—and now, criticism will be directed at him once again,” predicts Thomas Gustafsson.