The acting President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, was designated this Tuesday, October 3, by King Felipe VI as a candidate to lead the next legislature. His nomination comes after the failed investiture of opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who did not pass the two votes in the Congress of Deputies after being nominated by the monarch. The Catalan separatist parties have the key to defining the next government, but the negotiations are complicated by two great demands: amnesty and an independence referendum.
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The possibility of being re-elected is officially opened for Pedro Sánchez, but the repetition of general elections in Spain is not ruled out.
As planned, this Tuesday, October 3, King Felipe VI designated the president of the current Government as a candidate for the investiture. And “without wasting time,” the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) announced that he will begin talks with the main political parties on Wednesday, “excited and aware of the enormous responsibility,” in an attempt to guarantee the votes necessary to be invested.
“I have accepted the task entrusted to me by the head of state… I am willing to work to form as soon as possible a progressive coalition government with sufficient support to guarantee the stability that the country needs,” Sánchez said after confirming his candidacy. .
I accept, with enthusiasm and responsibility, the assignment of HM the King as a candidate to be sworn in as President of the Government.
I will work to form a coalition government as soon as possible between @PSOE and @Add with enough parliamentary support to give stability to the country and… pic.twitter.com/rsglAZosDw
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) October 3, 2023
The leader of the ruling party must reach at least 176 votes in the first debate. If he doesn’t overcome it, he will have a second chance. Then, you will have to obtain a simple majority. That is, more ‘yeses’ than ‘noes’.
The PSOE has the support of its 121 deputies, to whom would be added the 31 of the left-wing allied formation Sumar and predictably the six Basque independence deputies of EH Bildu and the five of the Basque nationalists of the PNV.
Even so He would need at least another 13 votes to complete the absolute majority. These votes are in the hands of the Catalan independence parties, Esquerra Republicana (ERC), which obtained seven seats in Parliament in the last elections on July 23, and Junts per Catalunya, which has another seven parliamentarians, so the support of these benches is crucial.
The opportunity comes for Sánchez after the first candidate proposed by the king, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, did not achieve the necessary support for his investiture.
“Doing politics implies generosity”: Sánchez avoids mentioning the amnesty
Sánchez already began negotiations before Feijóo’s investiture debates, but support is not guaranteed. In addition to an amnesty for politicians prosecuted after leading the independence referendum in 2017, not authorized by Madrid, they ask for a way for a new popular consultation on the self-determination of that autonomous community.
Although in recent days, representatives of the separatist movements have given the amnesty as a fact, Sánchez has not confirmed it. and the main blockage is in the aspirations for independence. The Spanish Constitution itself indicates that a secessionist referendum is not possible without a reform of the Magna Carta.
But Sánchez clings to the possibilities. “Tomorrow I will begin that round of contacts. I will start with Yolanda Díaz (leader of Sumar) I will have a meeting with her in the Cortes (…) In the next few days I will meet with all the parliamentary forces, except with Vox,” assured the president of the government in reference to the extreme right movement.
Sánchez makes the attempt to form a government after the first candidate nominated by Felipe VI, the leader of the Popular Party (PP), failed to overcome either of the two votes in the Congress of Deputies.
“The times are very marked (…) You have until November 27 to make this investiture possible, so I will convey the king’s proposal to the candidate and I will listen to his proposal of necessary times,” stated the president of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, minutes after meeting with King Felipe VI.
I am going to meet with all the parliamentary forces, except with Vox
In his statements after confirming his candidacy, Sánchez avoided mentioning the thorny term ‘amnesty’, but stated that “it is time for politics and generosity (…) Doing politics implies generosity,” Sánchez remarked, showing an open tone to more rounds of negotiations.
But in them, he discards the far-right movement Vox, known for denying sexist violence, its positions against the LGBTIQ+ community and its xenophobic discourse.
Sánchez’s team has been preparing possible points of agreement with the Catalan parties in secret talks for weeks. However, the current leader of the Government assured that any pact “will be transparent, it will have to be endorsed by the courts and the Constitutional Court will also have to rule.”
The country reaches this stage after the early elections on July 23 left an uncertain outlook, because no political movement achieved an absolute majority in Parliament.
In the event that Sánchez also fails to pass his investiture votes, Spain will have to go to the polls again. expected in January 2024.
And the Legislature must confirm a government president before next November 27. Article 99 of the Constitution establishes that after the first failed vote to name a leader – which in this case occurred on September 27 in Feijóo’s first attempt – a vote is opened. period of two months in which, if no candidate has managed to be invested, the courts are dissolved and new elections are called within a period of 47 days.
Given the magnitude of the demands of the independentists and the reluctance within some members of the PSOE in this matter, this scenario is probable.
With local media
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