Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente has resigned six days after this year’s second deadly train crash, leaving the ruling Socialists fighting an election campaign without one of their most combative voices, according to Reuters.
Mr Puente surprised lawmakers by quietly announcing he was stepping down on Tuesday night, November 3, following a tense four-hour grilling by lawmakers from a caretaker parliament body, in which most parties demanded he face responsibility for the two rail disasters that have killed 115 people combined.
A decision kept from the prime minister
One of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s most loyal and high-profile ministers, Mr Puente had previously vowed to stay on to tackle the investigation into last week’s crash and fix the system’s flaws, despite widespread calls for his exit from both the opposition and coalition partners. But on Tuesday, the 57-year-old revealed he had in fact already made his decision in the immediate aftermath of the train crash in central Spain’s Urda, only telling his family while keeping even Mr Sánchez in the dark.
His resignation will only become effective once it is published in the official state gazette, but the exact timeline for this remains unclear. He also said he would not stand as a candidate in the upcoming election on November 29.
Two disasters, 115 dead
The two rail disasters this year have killed 115 people combined, and the crashes have become a central issue in the election campaign. Lawmakers from most parties pressed Mr Puente during the four-hour hearing to accept responsibility for the failures in the rail system. His departure removes a minister who was both a loyal ally of Mr Sánchez and a polarising figure in Spanish politics.
The resignation also lands as Spain faces fresh scrutiny of its rail safety systems, with the investigation into the Urda crash continuing. Whoever succeeds Mr Puente will inherit both the inquiry and a public demanding answers about how two deadly crashes could happen in a single year.
