2023-09-26 05:01:00
The leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will submit to his investiture as president of the government before the Spanish Congress starting this Tuesday without having obtained sufficient support. Feijóo has extensive experience in the regional Executive of Galicia, of which he was its president from 2009 to 2022, but it is the first time that he aspires to preside over the Spanish government, while making his debut in this new legislature as a national deputy. .
The investiture debate takes place 48 hours after the PP gathered thousands of people in Madrid, who supported their leader and were against a hypothetical amnesty for the Catalan secessionists who participated in the 2017 independence process. of a demand by the pro-independence parties to support a possible investiture of the socialist Pedro Sánchez if Feijóo’s fails.
The numbers do not close
The PP was the party with the most votes in the general elections on July 23, with 137 deputies, but it needs the support of other groups in the Chamber to reach the government. However, after 35 days of talks and negotiations since the king proposed Feijóo as a candidate, he only obtained the support of the far-right Vox, with 33 deputies, plus two others from two regionalist groups, adding a total of 172 votes in favor.
The rest of the parties, which total 178 deputies, have already announced their negative vote. With these numbers, the investiture of the leader of the PP is headed for failure, except for a big surprise that would occur if at least four deputies from parties that have announced the “no” vote in favor or abstain. In this sense, the PP called on the wayward socialists to have Sánchez agree on a possible amnesty with the Catalans so that they support Feijóo’s investiture, something that the socialist party (PSOE) considers promotes transfuguism and corruption.
To encourage the rejections of the bloc that makes up the PP and Vox, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) revealed that the negotiations for the amnesty for the around 1,400 convicted of the 2017 independence process are in the technical phase, because “the part politics is already resolved.” ERC spokesperson Raquel Sans said at a press conference in Barcelona that “documents are circulating” that propose the amnesty, but she did not clarify which parties they circulate among or what they specify.
Feijóo’s time
“Preparation,” Feijóo said on social network X, accompanying the brief message with an image sitting and reading in his office at the PP’s national headquarters. The party assures that he is “calm, serene and with high morale” before this debate, in which he will make clear “what he is not willing to pay.” The same sources added that he “is very convinced that what he is going to do is what he should do.”
The leader of the PP insisted that King Felipe VI entrust him with the investiture by claiming himself as the winner of the last elections. He therefore believes that his duty is to give voice to the 11 million Spaniards who voted for political change in Spain, after eight years with a progressive coalition government chaired by the socialist Pedro Sánchez.
The Congress session will begin with Feijóo’s speech, in which he must defend his political lines for the government he proposes. The debate will then continue with the different political groups, from highest to lowest representation, until the vote takes place on Wednesday, in which the candidate must obtain the absolute majority of the Chamber (176 votes in favor).
If the result is negative on Friday there will be a new vote and if the candidate again does not obtain the necessary support the investiture will fall. From there the king opens a new period of consultations before entrusting the investiture to a candidate again. In this case Sánchez, whose party won 121 seats, has already announced that he will show the monarch his willingness to run, considering that he can obtain the necessary support from other parties.
The government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, refused to confirm whether Sánchez will intervene on behalf of the PSOE during Feijóo’s investiture debate because “the leading role” belongs to the leader of the PP. Rodríguez added that the Executive is “looking forward to hearing” Feijóo’s proposal although he would surely “like to close his eyes and have it dawn on September 30.”
The spokesperson said that it does not matter if the PP gathered 30, 40 or 60 thousand people at its event on Sunday but rather the 176 votes it needs to be sworn in as president, and as of today, she stressed, Feijóo “has only 172, that is , it’s back where it started.” Faced with this panorama, Rodríguez maintained that what the government wants is for “Spain to stop wasting time” and that “the sooner we have a fully functioning government.”
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