PP calls on Rubalcaba to rule himself out of race

The Popular Party stepped up its pre-campaign election strategy on Wednesday when it called on Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba to step aside from his new role as Socialist prime-ministerial candidate following court indictments handed down against three former top law enforcement officials in an alleged insider tip-off case that helped ETA terrorists to avoid being arrested.

PP parliamentary spokesman Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría called on Rubalcaba to rule himself out after learning about the charges against his three former subordinates filed by the High Court in the so-called Faisán case. The PP has "judged Rubalcaba unfit" to run in the next general elections, she said.

The opposition party, with the help of pro-PP media such as El Mundo, has long used the Faisán case against Rubalcaba by insinuating he was privy to the tip-off. According to the investigation, José María Elosua, owner of the Bar Faisán in Irún and an ETA go-between, was warned in 2006 about an imminent police raid, thus ruining a major bust of ETA's extortion network. Among the three indicted is former police and Civil Guard chief Víctor García Hidalgo.

Rubbing the indictments in Rubalcaba's face, Sáenz de Santamaría insinuated that he had stepped down from his dual role as deputy prime minister and interior minister last week because he knew the charges were expected. "Rubalcaba never wanted to answer the opposition's questions, saying that we had to wait until the courts decided. Well, they decided and they say the number three in the Interior Ministry belonged to ETA."