| Party or group | Speaker | Position after the resignation |
|---|
| PP (center-right) | Ester Muñoz, Feijóo | Resignation "comes 116 deaths late"; Sánchez should also resign |
| Vox (right) | Santiago Abascal | Sánchez "hides behind his henchmen"; responsibility is his |
| Sumar / Frente Amplio (left) | Mónica García, Ada Colau | An "honorable gesture"; Colau seeks a cross-party rail pact |
| ERC, Junts (Catalan) | Rufián, Nogueras | Rufián: "a great minister"; Junts calls exit "unavoidable," wants rail powers transferred |
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"The People's Party (PP) spokeswoman in Congress, Ester Muñoz, said the resignation \"comes 116 deaths late.\" Earlier in the session she had told Puente to \"take your hands off the Transport Ministry, we have already lost too many lives because of you.\" Party vice secretary Juan Bravo called the resignation \"a confession of guilt,\" per Demócrata. On Wednesday PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo replied to Sánchez's \"dignity\" post with a single word, \"Aplícatelo,\" meaning apply it to yourself, per [Infobae/EFE](https://www.infobae.com/espana/agencias/2026/11/04/feijoo-pide-a-sanchez-que-se-aplique-el-mismo-argumento-de-puente-y-dimita-por-dignidad/). Unnamed PP sources told El Español that Puente had not resigned on his own: \"Tezanos resigned him,\" a reference to José Félix Tezanos, head of the state polling institute CIS, implying the decision followed bad polling.\n\nVox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on X that \"Sánchez always hides behind his henchmen. But the responsibility is his,\" and called for the prime minister to resign, per Última Hora. Vox's spokeswoman Pepa Millán had earlier accused Puente of \"shirking his responsibilities,\" per Euronews.\n\nOn the left, Health Minister Mónica García of Sumar called the resignation \"an honorable gesture that sets the standards of politics in dignity and empathy with the victims.\" Ada Colau, the Frente Amplio candidate for prime minister, thanked Puente for \"the dignity of this difficult gesture\" and called for a Pacto de Estado, a cross-party agreement, on rail safety, per Demócrata. ERC spokesman Gabriel Rufián was picked up by microphones telling Puente, \"You have been a great minister,\" and said the question that matters now is whether it is \"safe\" to take a train. Junts spokeswoman Míriam Nogueras called the resignation \"unavoidable\" and demanded the full transfer of rail services to Catalonia. The Galician BNG called it \"the only possible decision\" and asked for safety guarantees. The civil-service union CSIF said \"now it is the turn\" of the leadership at Renfe and Adif.\n\nThe Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Junts, whose votes the Sánchez government has relied on, had both demanded the resignation before it came, per Euronews.\n\n## The election three weeks away\n\nSánchez dissolved parliament on October 5 and called the election for November 29. In his statement that day he said \"we need to renew and widen the support of the people\" and sought \"a much broader, progressive majority,\" while warning against handing \"the reins of the country to a far-right coalition,\" according to the [Moncloa transcript](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/presidente/actividades/Paginas/2026/051026-sanchez-convocatoria-elecciones.aspx).\n\nPolls taken after the crash show the PP and Vox together above the 176 seats needed for a majority in the 350-seat Congress. The table gives the three most recent surveys we could verify. Seat estimates are the pollsters' projections, not votes, and the ranges reflect their own stated uncertainty.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"