“Those”

The Spanish dictionary of the Real Academia states that when you refer to a group of people as “those”, you are “in fact making a derogatory remark” about them. Given the impending doom of Sunday’s polls in Galicia and the Basque Country for Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE —all will be revealed on Sunday evening—, the Spanish socialist leader has opted for a dramatic effect: he has unexpectedly announced that he will again attempt to be elected president in a vote of confidence with the backing of a parliamentary majority other than the PP’s.

The Partido Popular and Ciudadanos —a fleeting glance is all it takes to bring together the political right— have both spoken of “a fifteen-minute government”, the impossibility to govern with “only 85 seats in parliament plus a motley crew of supporters” and “a Frankenstein cabinet”, in the words of vice president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría.

Still, the most interesting political reaction was Rajoy’s: does Sánchez intend to form a government with these (“those”)? And he went on to say that “the will and the good sense of the Spanish people won’t allow it”.

Indeed, Sánchez’s move is a desperate one and he is a weak leader who has had to endure two painful defeats at the polls and an unsuccessful confidence vote. Faced with the stubbornly destructive attitude of the PSOE’s regional barons, who ring the bell and run like hell, Sánchez has decided to go all in. Either “those” whom Rajoy regards as unworthy of consideration and acknowledgement (“the separatists and the far left”) agree to lend Sánchez their support and elect him president in a bizarre turn of events, or the PSOE leader will have to step down, perhaps because the socialist barons’ patriotic abstention will prevail or because he will lack the backing he needs to win the vote.

At any rate, Sánchez’s move has prompted Rajoy to define his own understanding of Spain’s democracy. It is a system where two tiers of voters and representatives coexist: the ones whose rights are fully asserted and “those” who don’t even deserve to be named. Rajoy is not alone on this one: his discrimination is endorsed by the PP, Ciudadanos, some within the PSOE and all the main news outlets in Spain.

If Sánchez ever became president, his government would be more or less short-lived, but it would be the result of having received the support of a parliamentary majority (one that would arise from the ballots cast by “those”), something which Rajoy has failed to accomplish in the last year.

The dictionary also notes that “those” may also refer to a group of people who are somewhat far or have just left. What else could they do, if they are not wanted?