2023-08-17 10:12:17
The candidate of the Spanish Socialist Party, Francina Armengol, was elected president of the Congress of Deputies on Thursday. This success for outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez augurs well for his chances of being reappointed soon as head of government.
Ms. Armengol, 52, won 178 votes, two more than the absolute majority, including the votes of the seven deputies of the party representing the hardest current of Catalan nationalism.
This result confirms Spanish media reports of a last-minute agreement between the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Junts per Catalunya (JxCat, Together for Catalonia), the party led by independence leader Carles Puigdemont, exiled in Belgium and wanted by the Spanish courts since 2017 and the failure of an attempt to secede from Catalonia.
This agreement enabled Mrs. Armengol to obtain the votes of the seven deputies of JxCat and thus to reach 178 votes. Without these seven votes, the Socialist Party and its allies had only 171 votes, potentially one less than the bloc around the People’s Party (PP, right).
In practice, however, the PP candidate, Cuca Gamarra, won only 139 votes – the 137 PP deputies plus the elected representatives of two small regional parties. The 33 deputies of the far-right Vox party decided to vote for their own candidate.
A test for Sanchez
This vote for the presidency of the Congress of Deputies was highly anticipated, not because it is the third state figure, but because its result gives a clear indication of the possibility for Mr. Sánchez to be reappointed in office in a nomination vote that might take place in late August or early September.
It was therefore the first round of a battle whose outcome will depend on the decision of JxCat, that is to say of Mr. Puigdemont. This paradox stems from the stunning results of the July 23 legislative elections, which saw a much narrower than expected victory for the PP, putting the outgoing left-wing government bloc and that of the right and far right, practically on a par.
This unexpected situation has given JxCat the power to decide whether Mr. Sánchez will continue to lead Spain or, if not, whether the country will have to hold new elections in the coming months.
Negotiations continued until Thursday morning, in the greatest secrecy, to convince these seven Catalan independence deputies to vote for Ms. Armengol.
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