Sánchez gives his executive a facelift to bury the Ábalos and Cerdán era.

Pedro Sánchez will appear this Saturday before a still-shocky PSOE federal committee, amid a climate of uncertainty and anxiety, after undertaking a rapid facelift of the Ferraz executive yesterday. The goal is to try to overcome the corruption and prostitution scandals involving the party's last two organizational secretaries, José Luis Ábalos (2017-2021) and Santos Cerdán (2021-2025), which threaten to drag down the Prime Minister and leave the PSOE reeling.

Sánchez thus appointed a new Ferraz leadership, "united and with checks and balances," according to Socialist sources, to avoid excessive accumulation of power in a single person, with responsibilities distributed among four leaders he trusts. And with a woman at the helm. "A new approach," they assert.

It remains to be seen how the new team will fit in: coexistence in the Ferraz engine room is not usually pleasant.

This restructuring, which will be ratified today by the PSOE's federal committee, places Valencian Rebeca Torró, currently Secretary of State for Industry under Jordi Hereu and former regional minister in Ximo Puig's regional government, as Ferraz's organizational secretary. This is a new addition to the federal executive, and the expectation, according to government sources, is that she will step down as Secretary of State so she can focus full-time on her new organizational position.

The intention is to avoid a repeat of the dysfunctions of Ábalos's tenure as the organization secretary, since upon being appointed minister—first of Public Works, then of Transport, between 2018 and 2021—he had to delegate the day-to-day management of the organization... precisely to Cerdán.

Torró will thus become the third woman to hold the position of secretary of organization of the PSOE – a position usually held by men –, following Leire Pajín (2008-2010) during the mandate of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and Carmen García Bloise (1979-1984) in the executive of Felipe González.

The corruption and prostitution scandals affecting the PSOE leadership with the cases of Cerdán, Ábalos, and Koldo García, with the resulting reputational damage to the party, were a reason for the position to be held again by a woman, according to everyone at Ferraz.

But Torró will also have three deputies, who were already part of the executive branch, leading the federal apparatus. In this case, the objective is to avoid the absolute power that Cerdán enjoyed in Ferraz after Adriana Lastra's departure from the PSOE deputy general secretary position in July 2022. Lastra herself, now the government delegate in Asturias, denounced the "campaign of harassment and destruction" she suffered at the hands of Cerdán until her resignation.

Another woman, Anabel Mateos from Almería, will serve as Secretary of Territorial Coordination and Torró's right-hand woman. She was previously Secretary of Coastal Municipalities in the executive branch. Mateos is also the wife of Antonio Hernando, current Secretary of State in Óscar López's Ministry of Digital Transformation, who also served as Secretary of Organization (2012-2014) during Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba's administration.

Pedro Sánchez, Óscar López and Antonio Hernando forged their friendship, which they recovered after distancing themselves due to internal disputes within the PSOE, under the orders of José Blanco, who was Zapatero's first secretary of organization (2000-2008).

The second deputy to the organization will now be Seville native Paco Salazar, who will retain his position as secretary of electoral analysis and action in the federal executive branch. The third will be Madrid native Borja Cabezón, who will also continue to lead the transparency and democratic action secretariat.

Coexistence in the engine room at Ferraz is rarely peaceful and has led to numerous power struggles in the past. So it remains to be seen how the new players will fit into day-to-day management. The veteran Salazar is accustomed to the backstage of the party and to the Moncloa Palace, while Torró and Mateos lack significant organizational experience so far.

Another significant change adopted by Sánchez, taking advantage of this restructuring, will be the executive spokesperson, following the departure of Esther Peña from Burgos. The PSOE leader opted for Catalan Montse Mínguez—general secretary of the Socialist group in Congress and secretary of labor in the executive—as the new public face of Ferraz.

This is the second time a PSC member has assumed the role of spokesperson for the sister party: Zapatero had already appointed Carme Chacón, in September 2003, as spokesperson for the PSOE and its electoral committee for the 2004 general elections.

And a deputy spokesperson position will also be created, which will be held by the executive's secretary of economic policy, Enma López—from Vigo, but a councilor on Madrid City Council—who had already been serving in this role unofficially.