PSOE replaces election candidate after Mínguez quits over partner’s property dealings

Cristina Morón Molina, the Catalan city of Lleida’s third deputy mayor, will now head the Catalan Socialist Party’s (PSC) congressional list in the constituency. Mínguez’s departure comes as the PSOE prepares to ratify its election candidates at its federal committee meeting on Saturday.

The controversy centres on reports that her partner holds around 30 properties for rent and has evicted several tenants. ALSO READ: Spain’s housing crisis prompts general strike on 11 November, ahead of election.

The right-wing opposition People’s Party (PP) has seized on the revelations to challenge the PSOE’s credibility on housing, while Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has defended Mínguez and said he tried to persuade her to remain a candidate.

Mínguez is relinquishing all her positions, including her parliamentary seat and her role as secretary for Studies and Programmes on the PSOE’s federal executive. Although parliament has been dissolved for the election, she had remained on Congress’s standing committee, which carries out essential parliamentary functions between legislatures. A substitute member is expected to take her place until the new chambers are constituted.

A departure framed as putting the party first

Announcing her decision on social media (see below), Mínguez said: ‘I have taken the decision to take a step back. Convinced that this is best for the collective project to which I have devoted my effort, my commitment and my best energies.’

She described the political moment as decisive and crucial, arguing that the electoral stakes required her to put collective interests ahead of personal considerations.

‘When the far right is knocking at the door and seeking to challenge social progress, rights and agreements that have taken years to achieve,’ she wrote, ‘responsibility must come before any personal consideration’.

She concluded by thanking those who had supported her: ‘I want to express my deep gratitude for the trust, support and affection I have received throughout this time.’

The PSOE said it respected her decision to leave both the spokesperson’s position and the federal executive. Party sources thanked her for her dedication, commitment and passionate defence of socialist values in public, also praising her consistency in voting according to her principles throughout what they described as an impeccable Socialist record.

Morón takes over in Lleida

Catalan president and PSC leader Salvador Illa announced Morón’s selection before the Catalan Socialists’ national council.

In his address, Illa thanked the PSC’s departing members of Congress for their work in recent years, saying some would not continue for personal or other reasons. He did not initially refer specifically to Mínguez, but subsequently published a separate tribute to her on social media.

‘I regret Montse Mínguez’s decision. Those of us who know her know of her commitment, her generosity and her dedication to public service,’ he wrote.

‘She has taken a personal decision that I deeply respect and that once again demonstrates that she has always put the collective interest ahead of any other consideration.’

Illa thanked her for her contribution, expressed his affection and appreciation, and said he was certain she would continue defending her convictions and contributing to the common good in whatever field she chose.

Sánchez says he urged her to stay

Speaking to reporters in Brussels after a European Council meeting, Sánchez said the party was losing ‘a great colleague and a great asset’.

He explained that he had exchanged messages with Mínguez during the summit but had not yet had an opportunity to speak to her. Through colleagues to whom she had confided, he had learned that ‘Montse was devastated’ and was struggling personally.

‘She asked to withdraw from the candidate lists. And I regret it. I told her not to do it because I think she is an extraordinary spokesperson, a tremendous politician,’ he said.

Sánchez argued that political hostility could cause lasting harm to politicians and their families.

‘The level of harshness, aggression and hatred that is often suffered not only by people in politics but also by their loved ones,’ he said, ‘is sometimes irreparable’.

‘Unfortunately, on many occasions in our country in recent years, red lines have been crossed that should not have been crossed, and this is the consequence.’

He described Mínguez as a ‘great politician’ and a ‘very good person’, saying that politics ‘sometimes mistreats good people’ and that hers was such a case.

Sánchez had also publicly maintained his backing after the property reports emerged, answering ‘of course’ when asked in Brussels whether he continued to support her.

PP accuses Socialists of hypocrisy on housing

The PP presented the resignation as vindication of its criticism, with secretary-general Miguel Tellado accusing Mínguez of promoting a message on housing that conflicted with her partner’s business activities.

In a video posted on X (see below), Tellado said the PSOE’s campaign and federal executive spokesperson had been forced to withdraw because ‘she said one thing and did the opposite’.

He accused her of using inflammatory language against property owners while her partner accumulated around 30 properties and evicted tenants who failed to pay their rent.

Tellado also linked the dispute to Maricarmen Abascal, the elderly woman who died in hospital two weeks after being evicted. He alleged that the PSOE had called the election hoping to gain politically from her death, only for its own position on housing to come under scrutiny. ALSO READ: Vigils and protests in Madrid after death of housing campaign symbol Maricarmen.

‘Montse Mínguez is not resigning out of consistency; she is resigning because she has been caught,’ he said.

Referring to her interventions in Congress, Tellado added: ‘Today the person who lectured from the parliamentary podium, who shouted ‘masks off’ and accused us of being vultures, falls. It turns out she had the speculator at home; she was the vulture’s consort.’

The PP had already targeted Mínguez’s absence from social media before her resignation was announced, posting: ‘We are concerned that the PSOE spokesperson has gone almost a week without posting. Montse, are you still there? Can someone help her recover her password?’