Mónica Oltra wants to do politics differently. At the end of 2019, she invited five left-wing politicians to Valencia, where she is Deputy Prime Minister. “Otras políticas”, a different kind of politics, was the programmatic title of the conference, to which the communist labor minister Yolanda Díaz had traveled from Madrid and the mayoress Ada Colau from Barcelona. With their feminist alliance, they want to create a left-wing alternative to the socialists in power in Madrid and Valencia. But instead of pushing ahead with her political project, the politician, who was born in Neuss in 1969 as the daughter of Spanish guest workers, is now fighting for her political survival.
The accusation against the feminist is serious: she is said to have not only tried to cover up continued sexual abuse. The perpetrator, who has since been convicted, was her husband, from whom she had divorced in 2017. As deputy head of government in the regional government of Valencia, Mónica Oltra has also been responsible for equality and social inclusion for the past seven years, including homes in the autonomous community. In a facility in Valencia, her ex-husband molested a 14-year-old girl between 2016 and 2017. He was therefore sentenced to five years in prison.
After lengthy investigations, the public prosecutor’s office came to the conclusion in June that there were indications that Oltra could have been guilty of deception, neglect of minors and failure to prosecute in dealing with the abuse of the girl. She is said to have worked with a good dozen officials to “protect” her former partner and possibly her own career. In addition, Mónica Oltra is said to have participated in a plan to discredit the victim. Last week, the Supreme Court of the Region of Valencia brought charges against the politician.
Right-wing party supported the charge
However, Mónica Oltra sees no reason to resign or give up her positions and insists on her integrity. She had to defend democracy against “fascism” because the accusation was based on a “hunt by the extreme right”. She also alluded to the fact that the right-wing populist Vox party had actively supported the charges against her. She called the abused girl’s lawyer, who has been active in the extreme right-wing camp for a long time, a “fascist”.
But the conservative People’s Party (PP), which ruled in Valencia until 2015, and the right-wing liberal Ciudadanos party are also demanding their resignation – or dismissal by the head of government if they themselves are not prepared to do so. The former regional president of Valencia, Francisco Camps, is given as an example. The PP politician resigned after allegations of corruption in 2011 to defend himself in court. Right-wing commentators accuse the left of hypocrisy. If a politician from PP or Vox came under similar suspicion, a wave of indignation would sweep through Spain.
But the socialist regional president, Ximo Puig, has so far been content to express his “respect for the judiciary and its procedures”. He asked for time to think. From his environment, however, it is said that nothing is ruled out. Without the Oltras Compromís alliance, a coalition of left and green regional parties, the socialist would not have become head of government in 2015 and has remained so to this day.
Party colleagues stand behind Oltra
Seven years ago, after Valencia, ruled by the conservative PP, sank into a swamp of corruption, the left attempted a fresh political start. Since then, Compromís has also provided the mayor of Valencia, while Oltra, who has been a member of the regional parliament since 2007, became Puig’s deputy. In the last regional elections in April 2019, Compromís won 17 seats in the regional parliament with a good 16 percent.
The alliance, which rallied behind Oltra at the weekend, is also represented in the national parliament. A party meeting turned into a solidarity event for them. Her party friends celebrated her to the tune of the song “You’ll never walk alone”, while Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz spoke from Madrid and expressed her confidence that Oltra would soon refute the allegations.
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