Rajoy admits that corruption punishes conservatives

USPA NEWS - The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, admitted Thursday with the leaders of his party, the conservative PP, that political corruption was at the origin of the conservative debacle in local and regional elections on May 24.

The loss of 2.5 million votes and its corollary, loss of municipalities and regional governments, has forced Rajoy, also president of the PP, to make changes in the party and prepare them in Government. Waiting to know who will changes in the Cabinet, Rajoy announced Thursday the changes in the party. The aim is to rejuvenate the formation and reverse the downward trend ahead of the November elections, making up for lost support of the Spanish society.

Although changes in the PP are partial, as they continue historic leaders of the Conservative Party as the former regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, a traditional People's Party territory, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, and the historic Andalusian leader Javier Arenas. Others have been dismissed as deputy secretaries general Carlos Floriano and Esteban Gonzalez Pons. In their place come new leaders as Fernando Martinez Maillo, Javier Maroto, Andrea Levy and Pablo Casado, who bears the responsibility to improve the party's image.

The new leaders must recover the lost votes. According to Rajoy, the economic crisis and the corruption of some prominent members of the PP are the causes of the debacle conservative. "Our vote has clearly lost in the middle and especially abstention,“ Rajoy said the PP leaders. In his opinion, the Conservatives have paid a "very high, very high" price for the corruption in the party. "We paid a high price for the behavior of some who considered our teammates," said Rajoy.

The president of the Spanish Government and the Popular Party as a priority to continue to act to prevent further corruption in the future. In another sense, he accused Socialist Party (PSOE its acronym in Spanish) of being "a slave of its weakness and its partners." The PSOE, Rajoy said, has become "a party that has lost the veneer of moderation." The Prime Minister said that the Socialists have chosen the "frivolity, marginalization and extremism" and said he believed he shared with the PSOE "the same love for Spain, although differences separate us."