2023-08-23 02:01:25
Bottom left, Alberto Núñez Feijoo in the Spanish parliament, in Madrid, August 17, 2023. PAUL WHITE / AP
Is this the beginning of an unblocking or on the contrary that of a countdown towards new elections? On Tuesday August 22, the King of Spain Felipe VI appointed the leader of the Popular Party (PP, conservative), Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, to try to be invested Prime Minister by the Parliament resulting from the legislative elections of July 23, which did not had not achieved a viable majority.
Unless there is a last-minute reversal, the nomination of Mr. Nuñez Feijoo is doomed to failure. The People’s Party has only 172 supporters: its own (139 votes), those of the far-right Vox party (33 votes) and the deputies of two small regional parties. In the first round, an absolute majority of 176 votes (out of a total of 350 deputies) is required, while a simple majority is sufficient in the second round.
Mr. Nuñez Feijoo, who came out on top in the election, has repeatedly declared that he would submit his candidacy to Parliament, hoping to gather the necessary support. Recent disputes with Vox, the Conservatives’ partner in four regional governments, seemed to have dampened its momentum. The far-right formation had asked the PP to “do not participate in the anti-democratic cordon” once morest him. On Tuesday, Mr. Nuñez Feijoo thanked Vox for their support “without requirements” and affirmed to maintain with its leader, Santiago Abascal, “normal democratic relations with the common goal of protecting our nation”.
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For King Felipe VI, who also spoke to outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday, the decision was tricky. The aim was to appoint the candidate best able to form a government while avoiding direct interference in Spanish political life. “The People’s Party was the political group that won the most seats” in Parliament, justified the Royal Palace in a press release, recalling that this ” practical “ turned into ” custom “ under the current Spanish Constitution.
Sanchez leaves him the field free
Mr. Sanchez preferred to leave the field open to his opponent. “Whatever decision the Head of State takes, it will have the support of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party [PSOE] »he said at a press conference before the announcement of the monarch’s decision, while repeating that a vote of investiture by the leader of the PP would be ” a failure “.
Building on this failure, the socialist leader, elected in 2018, hopes in turn to try to be invested to renew his mandate. The game is far from over. In principle, Mr. Sanchez might count on 171 votes: the 121 of the PSOE, the 31 deputies of Sumar, his radical left partner, as well as the support of the parties which supported the previous legislature, of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to the far-left separatists of Bildu, to the moderate Basque nationalists of the PNV and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG).
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