2023-08-22 23:04:30
The king communicated “his decision to propose Mr. Alberto Núñez Feijóo as candidate for the presidency of the government”, declared this Tuesday evening at a press conference the socialist Francina Armengol, new president of the Congress of Deputies. Neither Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Popular Party (PP), which came out on top in the elections on 23rd July, nor the outgoing Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, can currently claim the required majority.
At the end of their respective meetings with King Felipe VI on Tuesday, Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, both reiterated that they were ready to submit to a vote of investiture if the sovereign’s choice fell on them .
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. This Tuesday evening, Alberto Núñez Feijóo only had 172 supporters, those of the 137 deputies of the PP, plus the 33 of the far-right Vox party and the deputies of two small regional parties. For his part, Pedro Sánchez believes that his opponent has no chance and that appointing him to appear before the deputies was a waste of time.
The vote of the separatists, essential for Sánchez
If the nomination vote fails, a two-month countdown will be triggered to try to find another majority, failing which, legislative elections will be called again.
“Whatever decision the head of state takes, it will have the support of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE),” Pedro Sánchez said at a press conference ahead of the announcement of the king’s decision, while repeating that a vote of investiture of the leader of the PP would be “a failure”.
For his part, the outgoing Prime Minister hopes to bring together the 178 votes which enabled Francina Armengol to be elected president of the Congress of Deputies thanks to the votes of two Catalan independence parties, ERC and above all Junts per Catalunya (JxCat). However, at present, this majority does not exist and the PSOE can only count on 164 votes.
ERC and especially Junts have indeed stressed last week that a vote of nomination would require new negotiations for which they have set the bar very high. Their two main demands are for a referendum on self-determination and amnesty for all those charged after Catalonia’s failed 2017 secession attempt that forced Carles Puigdemont to flee to Belgium to escape Spanish justice.
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