Popular Party’s Pablo Casado has ramped up his fiery rhetoric in a bid to become PM

April 22nd, 2019. Published by The Irish Times.

Earlier this year, while addressing members of his conservative Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado made headlines when he broached the issue of abortion.

“If we want to finance pensions and healthcare, we should think about how we can have more children and not about aborting them,” the party’s leader said.

His use of Spain’s fragile pensions system to justify rolling back a 2010 law making abortion freely available pleased anti-abortion campaigners, while outraging many on the left. It also received a mixed response within his own party, where moderates fretted that Casado (38), who is the PP’s candidate for prime minister, had strayed into territory that was unlikely to win votes.

The incident was typical of Casado’s tendency to wade into sensitive issues with strong language and an unabashedly right-wing message. With a general election approaching on April 28th and his party trailing the governing Socialists in polls, Casado has made this strategy an integral part of his campaign. (See article)