Cifuentes leaves in shame
The former president of Madrid paints herself as a victim of a personal and political vendetta; Rajoy asks for her resignation before tell-tale video aired
Apparently, Cristina Cifuentes had planned to resign from the presidency of Madrid with her influence intact within the PP following the celebration of Dos de Mayo, the Community’s day. Her departure was inevitable, but she had decided to hold on as long as possible. However, with the airing of a video recorded while she was Deputy Speaker of the parliament of Madrid in 2011, in which the caught in flagrante stealing cosmetics from a department store forced her to leave office scurrying through the back door.
According to Cifuentes, she is paying the price for her “zero tolerance” with corruption and is the victim of a plot designed to destroy her and tarnish her image, trying to “humiliating her” for years.
Her departure, in any case, closes yet another period of the dark days of the PP in Madrid and eases pressure on the party which until yesterday faced a vote of no confidence by the PSOE. Ciutadans also breathe more easily, have used the resignation as a means of avoiding having to back the socialists. Albert Rivera’s party will be happy to take a back seat until next year’s elections.
Cifuentes was already reeling from the scandal involving what appears to be a falsification of her academic record, claiming a Master’s degree of which the is no evidence when the video was posted by digital news channel Okdiario. The security footage shows her in the company of a store security guard emptying her bag, revealing two jars of cosmetics which had not been paid for; a “lapse” according to Cifuentes. The store’s policy is to delete security videos every two weeks. For some unknown reason, this particular one survived.