Sánchez's Electoral Manipulation and Journalist Surveillance Prove Spain's Slide into Dictatorship
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Spain’s Sánchez Compiles Blacklists of Journalists and Tries to Tamper With the Electoral Roll | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." September 9, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that Spain's Prime Minister Sánchez is turning the country into a dictatorship by trying to rig elections (giving voting rights to distant descendants of exiles who have no real ties to Spain) and by secretly tracking journalists based on their political views. He says the fact that no one has been jailed yet or elections officially canceled doesn't mean Spain isn't already sliding into authoritarianism, and criticizes the EU for doing nothing to stop it.
Conclusion
Pedro Sánchez's government in Spain is becoming a far-left dictatorship, despite denials from centrists, the EU, and other observers.
Premises
- The 'Grandchildren's Law' championed by Sánchez sought to grant citizenship and voting rights to hundreds of thousands of people born abroad who have no real connection to Spain, specifically to gain votes he could not win in a clean election.
- Spain's Supreme Court halted the electoral effects of this law after Vox filed for measures, indicating the law was legally problematic and electorally motivated.
- The Spanish Ministry of Interior secretly compiled a dossier cataloging journalists by political ideology, including personal details and characterizations like 'far-right' or 'defends socialist policies.'
- The government's dismissal of the journalist dossier as having 'no major implications' is not credible given the secrecy and detail involved in its creation.
- The EU and European centrist/social democratic establishment have done nothing meaningful to stop Sánchez's actions, despite claims that 'the EU would never allow' a slide into dictatorship.
- The author's 2023 prediction of authoritarian drift, once dismissed as exaggerated, is now increasingly validated by public opinion and events.
Assumptions
- Granting voting rights to descendants of exiles/emigrants is illegitimate electoral manipulation rather than a legitimate policy choice, regardless of historical justifications for compensating exiled families.
- Compiling information on journalists' political leanings necessarily indicates authoritarian intent to control media, rather than routine political/media monitoring.
- The absence of jailed journalists or canceled elections does not preclude labeling a government as dictatorial; incremental erosions constitute sufficient evidence.
- The EU's inaction is evidence of complicity or failure rather than absence of sufficient grounds for intervention.
- The author's own political predictions and framing are objective assessments rather than partisan interpretations.