Almost half of Spanish citizens would prefer a repeat of the general elections after noting the enormous difficulty of the country’s two main political formations, the Socialist Party and Partido Popular, to form a stable government, a fresh poll published by El Pais revealed on Monday.
According to a 40dB poll for El País, 46% of those surveyed believe that the acting Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D), will succeed in forging a new progressive government, thanks to the backing of Catalan and Basque separatist forces.
However, a third of those polled believe a new election would be necessary in January 2024.
Following the recent failure of Partido Popular (PP/EPP) leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the separatists’ demands, including a referendum on self-determination for Catalonia and an amnesty law for those involved in the 2017 secessionist attempt in the region, 48% of those polled think it would be better to repeat the elections.
Sánchez’s pacts with Catalan and Basque nationalist and separatist parties are supported by almost 30%, while 10% of respondents would like the PP to back an inauguration of the Socialist candidate so that Sánchez could govern without needing the votes of the separatists, the survey revealed.
Division among PSOE voters
Among PSOE voters, there is a great division of opinion on what Sánchez should do to return to the Moncloa Palace, the seat of Government.
According to the poll, nearly 50% of PSOE militants would be in favour of a coalition with the left-wing platform Sumar with the parliamentary support of separatist parties, and not only for Sánchez’s investiture but for the entire legislature, which includes the approval of the national budget, a key element of future stability.
Twenty-five per cent of PSOE militants would prefer a new call for elections, and 19% of them would like Sánchez to seek the support of the PP and thus avoid needing the backing of separatist forces.
However, the percentage of PSOE voters favouring a pact with Catalan and Basque nationalists has fallen in recent weeks, from 57.8% a month ago to 48.8% today, according to 40dB.
Among socialist voters, the desire to rerun the elections is also on the rise, with the figure rising from 9% last September to 25% today.
The PP opposes amnesty “with reason, morality, ethics and the law”
Despite threatening to take a possible amnesty law before Spain’s Constitutional Court several weeks ago, the PP leader confirmed his intentions on Monday.
If the PP does not appeal a possible amnesty law to the courts, the centre-right party would be “complicit in an injustice”, Núñez Feijóo stressed.
In an interview aired Monday by Catalunya Ràdio, the head of the main opposition force in Parliament, I was assured that the PP will work against the amnesty “with reason, morality, ethics and the law”.
“(…) Everything unjust, we have to appeal because otherwise, we would be accomplices to an injustice. To be an accomplice to an injustice in a democratic State like Spain is an act of absolute cowardice”, he stressed.
Sumar presents its “working tool”
The progressive platform Sumar will present on Tuesday (10 October) in Barcelona a proposal drawn up by a team of legal experts to make the possible future amnesty law fit into the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
However, Sumar spokesperson Ernest Urtasun, lowered expectations on Monday and assured that what is presented won’t be the final text but will serve as a “working tool” to provide the “framework of constitutionality” for the future law.
Catalonia’s regional president, Pere Aragonès, of the left-wing separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC, Republican Left of Catalonia), had already made it clear that separatist forces are interested in the Socialist Party’s proposal, not in Sumar’s, leaked by El Pais last week, however, he described it as “interesting”.
The PSOE pointed out that it is exclusively a Sumar proposal, with which the Socialist Party does not feel linked.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
Read more with EURACTIV
NGOs asked French prime minister to draw up a youth mental health strategy
Source: euractiv.com
