The forcefulness with which the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) have presented their bill to modify the so-called 'Only yes means yes' law of sexual liberty has to do, fundamentally, with two aspects: firstly, the bloodletting that is shown in the polls, which once again predict that the People's Party (PP) and Vox will have an absolute majority after the next Spanish elections to be held this December. There is a general conviction in the Socialist ranks that it is impossible to turn this situation around if they do not reverse the massive release from prison of those convicted of sex offences and the reduction in sentences that they are being granted, which already affects more than 400 convicts. For this reason, the PSOE has not waited to complete an agreement with junior coalition partner Unidas Podemos but has steamed ahead knowing how important it is to impose the narrative that they were the ones who managed to modify the law.
The PP, which is well aware of how it is benefiting from the stumbles of the "Only yes means yes" law, is not going to let the PSOE amend it alone. This is the reason why Alberto Núñez Feijóo has already guaranteed the votes for Pedro Sánchez. There is no greater satisfaction for a leader of the opposition than dismembering the coalition government when, as well, the PSOE proposal needs the votes of the right. Although the debate is on the incorporation of violence or intimidation of the victim to the law, the key will be whether these two precepts are compatible with maintaining consent as the central axis of the penal reform. If this obstacle is overcome, an important step will have been taken, since the PSOE would be making a mistake if it disregarded consent, a very significant advance in the protection of women, in the parliamentary debates that will be held.
The modification proposed by the PSOE also contemplates returning to the previous law's penalties and increasing them by between one and two years when there has been violence or intimidation. It is obvious that the equality minister, Irene Montero, has found herself facing an unforeseen campaign, the consequence of a text prepared by her ministry that was a poor fit. At least, a poor fit considering that the judges were not going to help with such a controversial law and one with the seal of Unidas Podemos. The Spanish government should have got out of this debate before Christmas, but the sheer stubbornness of resisting for the sake of resisting has made the problem snowball. This usually happens in politics when attention is not paid to what public opinion is doing, especially in matters as delicate and controversial as this one.
Although there is still an age before the Spanish elections, the fact that there will be municipal and autonomous elections in many communities in May will force an express reform of the Only yes means yes law. The PP is moving comfortably when talking about this law as well as the reform of sedition and misuse of funds in the Penal Code. It is in this that the party of fear functions at its best, and, in the absence of solid leadership from Feijóo, it is approaching the Spanish battles as primaries for the December elections. Sánchez, who is truly obsessed with opinion polls, knows this, and that is why he has tried, without success to date, to sink these two issues that keep bobbing up to the surface again no matter how much he tries to avoid it.