Pedro Sanchez, A Risk-taker With A Flair For Survival

Madrid, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Apr, 2024) A shrewd politician who has built his career on uncertain wagers, Spain's Pedro Sanchez burnished his reputation as a risk taker Monday after pulling back from a threat to potentially resign.

"I have learnt to push myself until the referee blows the final whistle," the head of Spain's Socialist party and a former basketball player wrote in his 2019 autobiography, "Resistance Manual".

That "final whistle" had appeared to be in the offing on Wednesday after Sanchez's bombshell announcement that he was considering stepping down over a court investigation into his wife Begona Gomez for alleged influence-peddling and corruption.

"I need to stop and think," he wrote in a four-page letter posted on X as he stepped back from public life for five days, only to end the suspense Monday saying he would stay on as premier.

The crisis erupted when an online newspaper said investigators had opened a preliminary probe into Gomez, prompting the right-wing opposition Popular Party, which has gone after Sanchez for months about his wife, to demand answers.

Sanchez's bombshell response immediately switched the focus onto toxic political practices targeting politicians' families, and to Spain's political future.

Denying the move was a "political calculation", Sanchez said he had decided to stay on despite "the politics of shame" which was increasingly being driven by "deliberate disinformation".

"After days of reflection, I have a clear answer," he said, pledging to stay on "with even more determination" then ever, and "to show the world how to defend democracy. Let's put an end to this mudslinging," he said.

With a charming smile and affable personality, the 52-year-old -- often referred to as Mr Handsome early in his career -- has been written off politically on several occasions, only to bounce back.

He's "never had it easy", said political scientist Paloma Roman from Madrid's Complutense University, noting his "flair" for getting out of complicated situations.