Il Nuovo Postiglione - Spanish PM urges defence of democracy, 50 years after Franco death

The general's demise on November 20, 1975 ended 36 years of authoritarian right-wing rule that followed a devastating 1936-1939 civil war which brought him to power.

Spain then embarked on a transition to democracy that has seen it become a stable EU and NATO member and one of the world's wealthiest countries.

"That November 20 did not only mark the end of Western Europe's last dictatorship, but also the beginning of a journey that would lead us to regain freedom and prosperity and to win back lost democracy," Sanchez wrote on news website elDiario.es.

"Let us remember that we live in a unique country, that we live in a present that represented a tiny possibility 50 years ago," added Sanchez in the article published late on Wednesday.

"Spain, Spaniards, both men and women, will never let that miracle disappear."

"Democracy is our power. Let's defend it," the Socialist leader added in an X post on Thursday.

Franco's legacy continues to split society, with experts warning that inaccurate social media content has spurred a positive opinion among young people with scant knowledge of the period.

According to a poll published on Thursday by El Pais daily, almost one-quarter of Spaniards aged 18 to 28 believed an authoritarian regime may "sometimes" be preferable to a democracy.

Around 40 percent of respondents had a "very good", "good" or neutral opinion of the regime, while 55 percent viewed it as "bad" or "very bad".

"It is precisely now, when some idealise authoritarian regimes and cling to nostalgia for a past that never was, when we must step forward in defence of a freedom that was snatched from us for so many years," Sanchez wrote in elDiario.es.

- Political polarisation -

No official commemorative events were planned on Thursday under the "50 years of Spain at Liberty" programme, with the government saying it aimed to celebrate the recovery of democracy throughout the year.

The conservative opposition says Sanchez plays "the Franco card" to distract attention from a series of corruption investigations that threaten to topple his minority leftist coalition.

It has accused the government of reopening the wounds of the past with legislation that aims to pay tribute to the memory of Franco's victims, vowing to repeal the laws if it returns to power.

A mass in honour of Franco was held on Thursday at a memorial site outside Madrid formerly called the Valley of the Fallen, seen as a triumphalist monument to the general's side in the civil war.

The government exhumed Franco's remains from the renamed Valley of Cuelgamuros in 2019 to stop it becoming a shrine for far-right sympathisers.

Around 25 people gathered at his current resting place in a cemetery in Madrid's northern outskirts, some bringing flowers and making fascist salutes.

Luis Lopez, a 48-year-old driver who arrived carrying a Franco-era Spanish flag, told AFP the dictator "did a lot for the country and his true worth is not recognised".

The Francisco Franco Foundation, which the government is seeking to dissolve, and his family have organised commemorative masses across Spain on Thursday evening.

A.Rastelli--INP