Spain’s PP leader faces ‘doomed to fail’ investiture

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s centre-right Partido Popular (EPP), is expected to fall short of enough seats to form a majority government as he faces his investiture vote in the parliament on Tuesday.

Feijóo, leader of Spain’s main centre-right opposition in parliament, only managed to secure 172 votes: four crucial seats short of the 176 he needed to govern.

As the winner of the snap election on 23 July, King Felipe VI tasked him with forming a government. So far, his attempts to gather more support have failed, and some parties, including Basque nationalist formations, have even refused to meet him.

The PP leader can count on his party’s 137 deputies, 33 of the far-right VOX party, the third-largest force in the parliament, as well as one vote from the regional conservative party Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN) and one from the regional party Coalición Canaria: 172 in all.

Despite not having enough support, Feijóo insisted on participating in the inaugural debate to demonstrate his position as the winner of the elections. On Tuesday, he will present his hypothetical government programme, and then it will be the turn of the spokespersons of all the parties present in the Chamber.

The first vote will occur on Wednesday, in which Feijóo must obtain an absolute majority. If he fails, he will have another chance on Friday, and this time, he will only need to get more ‘yes’ votes than ‘no’ votes.

Gaining those four key missing votes is Feijóo’s main objective. Recently, he has made several appeals to socialist MPs discontent with the acting prime minister and socialist candidate, Pedro Sánchez, to lend him their support.

Meanwhile, Sánchez and his socialist party (PSOE/S&D), together with the leader of the left-wing platform Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, continue his weeks their contacts with Catalan separatist formations Junts Per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC/The Greens-EFA), who have set several red lines to back Sánchez.

If Feijóo fails, it will be the Socialist candidate’s turn to try to become prime minister for a second term, although he will have to make difficult concessions to the separatist parties, which, among other demands, are calling for an amnesty law for those involved in the 2017 secessionist attempt, as well as a referendum on self-determination for Catalonia.

‘Technical’ negotiations on amnesty law

After ERC leader Oriol Junqueras took it for granted last week that the government would approve an amnesty law, the party’s spokesperson, Raquel Sans, said on Monday in Barcelona that negotiations are progressing at a good pace, EFE reported.

Sans said that the negotiations with the PSOE on an amnesty law focused on “technical issues” and that “the political chapter has already been resolved”.

She stressed that the amnesty law “is something that we (ERC and JxCat) take for granted, but the political conflict (with Madrid) continues” because “the real negotiation is coming now: we have not solved anything”.

“We have to start the real negotiation, and we have to start with the referendum (on self-determination in Catalonia),” the ERC spokeswoman added.

If neither candidate becomes prime minister, Spain will have to hold new general elections, probably in January 2024.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)