2023-08-19 11:31:03
There is no precedent in the history of democracy and the Constitution is sparing in this regard. King Felipe VI is faced with the dilemma of proposing a candidate for Prime Minister when there are two politicians who are fighting to achieve it when they see themselves in a position to access La Moncloa.
Next week it will open its ninth round of consultations with the political parties and from the conversations with them it will make a decision. You must study which candidate has the greatest number of supports to stand for the investiture and that it go ahead. Otherwise, if the chosen candidate does not pass the process, the electoral clock will run, and the electoral repetition will be closer. That is why the round of contacts is not trivial.
It is article 99 of the Magna Carta that prescribes that the King, after consulting with the political groups, and through the presidency of the Congress of Deputies, proposes a candidate for the presidency of the Government. However, the Constitution does not indicate the guidelines to follow regarding which candidate the Monarch must propose. The debate, thus, focuses on whether to present the candidate who won the elections, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, (who would have 171 seats and would need four more) or who, a priori, has parliamentary support to be sworn in as president of the Government, to Pedro Sánchez, provided that the “yes” of Junts is tied. The jurists consulted by LA RAZÓN agree that “if after consultations with the political parties it is clear that a candidate has sufficient support to achieve more than 176 supports, the King cannot fail to propose it.”
Thus, all eyes are directed to the Monarch, regarding the decision he will make. Regarding the role of the King, the professor and jurist, Teresa Freixes, explains that the King acts as a “moderator. “He must listen to everyone and decide who he proposes.” “The Constitution does not regulate who he must propose,” she explains. She recalls the jurist that the tradition in Spain is that the leader with the most votes and the most seats is the one proposed by the King to attempt the investiture. In fact, article 99.2 reflects that the chosen candidate must present his government program to Congress. That is to say, Feijóo would be entitled to attend an investiture with the aim of testing whether or not he finally has the necessary support. If he does not pass it, he would start running the electoral clock, according to point five of article 99, and in two months, if no candidate obtains the confidence of Congress, the King will dissolve both Chambers and call new elections. During that time, after a new round of consultations, Felipe VI can propose Sánchez as a candidate. Then the electoral clock would stop and a new government would formally start.
“The Constitution does not regulate who should be proposed”
The expert recalls that Mariano Rajoy was proposed and after declining it, the King proposed the commission to Pedro Sánchez. “That should be the logical order to follow today. It would respond to the basic criteria of parliamentary democracy, to Spanish constitutional custom and to the respect due to the Crown, which cannot be constrained by political interest in an issue as important as this, “he says.
José Manuel Vera Santos, professor of Constitutional Law at the Rey Juan Carlos University believes that if there is a clear majority, “the King will act accordingly”, that is, proposing the candidate who receives the most support. The option that the King chooses, presenting Feijóo or Sánchez will be “totally valid,” he explains, as his acts are endorsed by the Constitution. In the event that there was no “clear majority”, the situation would be different. However, he explains that, based on the electoral result, in which “the difference in support is not very high”, he does not see “reckless” that Felipe VI proposes the popular candidate. He believes that this will happen because he has won the elections and later, if he does not pass it, he will present the acting president of the government, Pedro Sánchez. Opinion from which differs, Ibor Fernandes Romero, Doctor of Constitutional Law, who believes that the aforementioned article of the Magna Carta “does not say that the candidate from the list with the most votes will be proposed for president.”
“The King will act accordingly”
Once the consultations for next week are over, the King will communicate to the president of the Congress of Deputies the name of the person in charge of obtaining the necessary support (176) to pass the investiture. It will then be Francina Armengol who will have to choose a date on which the investiture session will take place. Among the functions of the president is to order the plenary sessions. She has in her power the decision to speed up this process or lengthen it in time. She will not be able, however, to oppose the King’s decision to propose Feijóo as a candidate for president, according to the jurists consulted. «Armengol must endorse the King’s proposal. It is a due endorsement, she cannot not do it, because the act is a natural function of the King. If she could not endorse said act, he would have to resign, “explains the expert Ibor Fernandes. Professor José Manuel Vera reaffirms that the president of Congress cannot give an opinion. “The decision is the King’s.” «The president of the chamber only processes. So it has always been. It is a prerogative in which the King enjoys broad autonomy. To shed more light on the debate, he recalls that the “royal” consultations are carried out “without the presence of the president of Congress.”
“If he could not endorse said act, Armengol would have to resign”
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