2023-07-30 02:08:08
Hard blow for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The counting of the votes of Spaniards living abroad for the legislative elections on July 23, which ended on Saturday, deprived the Socialists of a seat as a deputy, a new obstacle for the investiture of outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
After these elections which failed to achieve a majority in Parliament, Pedro Sanchez will now only be able to obtain the nomination if the seven deputies of the Catalan independence party, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), the most reluctant to support a national government , vote for him. It was enough until then that they abstain.
Still no absolute majority
The counting of votes from abroad gave the Popular Party (PP, conservatives) a seat for the Madrid constituency initially allocated to the Socialists, thanks to a difference of 1,749 votes. Of the approximately 2.3 million expatriates registered on the electoral lists, just over 10% (233,000) voted on July 23 by post or by going to the Spanish consulate in their country of residence.
The Socialists therefore go from 122 to 121 deputies and Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP from 136 to 137. Although the two blocs remain far from the 176 seats necessary to obtain an absolute majority in parliament, the vote of Spaniards abroad has changed the balance of power which now stands at 171 deputies for the left and 172 for the right.
Carles Puidgemont and king maker
Few parties want to support Núñez Feijóo, whose nomination depends on the 33 deputies of the far-right Vox party. An absolute majority is necessary to be invested in the first round, but a simple majority suffices in the second. Pedro Sánchez could obtain it thanks to the seven deputies of Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan separatist leader who has taken refuge in Belgium.
Puigdemont’s party “will have to decide whether it prefers a progressive government or uniting its voices with those of the PP and Vox for a right-wing government with the far right”, commented on Saturday Patxi López, socialist spokesperson in the chamber. deputies.
From Brussels, Puigdemont conditioned his vote in favor of Sánchez on the negotiation of a resolution of the “conflict between Catalonia and Spain”, while asking that the negotiations take place without “pressure”, with “discretion” and “caution”, according to a message posted on Twitter, renamed X.
The final count of the votes has led to a specific change in the allocation of seats in the Spanish Parliament but relevant in the equation for any investiture. The current Prime Minister and socialist candidate for re-election can only be elected if he gets the vote…
— krls.eth / Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) July 29, 2023
If neither bloc wins a majority to form a government, Spain will have to hold new elections, probably at the end of the year, as was the case in 2016 and 2019.
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