Joaquín Leguina has appealed his expulsion from the PSOE, arguing that the party to which he has belonged for 45 years “has always been characterised by a high degree of tolerance for criticism and internal discrepancy”. And in the “freedom of conscience and expression” that “protects” him as a militant, the former president of the Community of Madrid bases his request for the disciplinary proceedings that have concluded with the withdrawal of his membership card on the “freedom of conscience and expression” that “protects” him as a militant.
In the letter sent to the Ferraz headquarters – reported today in the newspaper EL MUNDO – he argues that neither the statutes nor the resolutions of the congresses or the Federal Executive Committee itself state that members should “ignore” their personal opinions regarding the Trans Law or the work of the Government itself when they understand that they “harm the party or even society as a whole”. Furthermore, he justifies that “in the absence of internal channels to channel the discussion”, the media should be used.
Leguina thus responds to the fact that the PSOE has included in the list of arguments to expel him from its ranks an interview published in Ok Diario on 28 October. In this he stated that Pedro Sánchez “takes incredible detours” and that “he has destroyed the party from the inside”, because his statements could be “disloyal, irresponsible and insulting”. The former Madrid leader now points out that his criticisms did not refer to his position as Secretary General of the Socialists, but to his role as President of the Government.
He also specifies that when he referred to the head of the central government as “a pod” he did not do so “in a pejorative or denigratory sense, but only descriptive” in the sense of “not a very serious person”. In this sense, he adds that Vice-President Alfonso Guerra made some statements on Onda Cero on 13 December that coincided “in substance” with this opinion, without there being any news “for the moment” that a case has been opened against him.
“The statements I made are in no way contrary to the principles that govern the PSOE or its political line”, Leguina states in his appeal, in which he adds that “the total absence of internal criticism means the violation of one of the fundamental pillars that consolidate the democratic functioning demanded by the Constitution”: “Its eradication would mean the application of the so-called Radek’s Algebra, a concept in which criticism within the party is equivalent to opposition; opposition, in turn, implies indiscipline and indiscipline, finally, is considered disloyalty to the ideology that governs the organisation.”
After communicating his expulsion earlier this month to the only socialist baron who has been at the head of the Puerta del Sol government, Ferraz simply pointed out that it had been decided through a procedure “with all the guarantees for the affiliate” and “as a result of his request to vote for Isabel Díaz Ayuso”, the PP candidate for re-election in the elections of the Community of Madrid in 2021. When questioned by this newspaper, however, he assured that this was a “false” argument because in the statement of charges he received 19 months ago “there was nothing of the sort”.
In his appeal, Leguina now asks for the process to be challenged because he considers that “the essential principle of sanctioning law of separation between the investigating and sanctioning phases” has been violated because the body that had to decide has been the investigator of the case, that is to say, “judge and party”. For this reason, he has formally requested the PSOE via burofax – the same channel by which he was notified of the withdrawal of his membership card – to proceed to dismiss the case and file it.
