Spain’s Constitutional Court formally rejected the request by the Socialist Party of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to review the 30,000 decisive yet invalid votes cast in Madrid’s snap general election on 23 July.
The Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by Sánchez’s PSOE (S&D) against the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the review of more than 30,000 invalid votes, essential to facilitate the Socialist candidate’s re-election.
The court followed an earlier opinion by the Public Prosecutor’s Office rejecting the PSOE’s appeal to regain a seat it lost to the PP in the 23 July vote.
The candidate of the centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) and opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, won 137 seats in July, compared to 122 for the PSOE.
As the election winner, Feijóo had to form a majority of 176 deputies to form a government by 27 September. So far, he has 174 MPs behind him.
Sánchez is racing against time, intensively negotiating with Catalan pro-independence formations, mainly centre-liberal Junts Per Catalunya (Together For Catalonia, JXCat) and the left-wing Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), to gather their vital backing to be reinstated as prime minister for another term.
Constitutional Court complex reasoning
“Whoever urges the review of invalid votes (PSOE) is obliged to base his request on the allegation of irregularities during the electoral process. And, although it is not reasonable to demand in these cases full proof of the alleged irregularity (…), at least evidence of such irregularities must be invoked”, the Constitutional Court explained.
The Socialist Party considered that the right to passive suffrage had been infringed by requesting a review of the entire invalid vote subject to a requirement not expressly provided for in the law: invoking irregularities in the electoral procedure.
However, the Constitutional Court understood that other elements of constitutional relevance must be considered, leading it to consider that the requirement to invoke irregularities to request a review of invalid votes could not be considered contrary to the Constitution.
The judgement holds that the principles of the preservation of validly held electoral acts and the presumption of validity of the acts of the Electoral Boards also apply to the case, EFE reported.
A joint interpretation of both principles leads to the conclusion that if such a claim is sought, an irregularity must be alleged that could have led to a discrepancy between the result of the ballot and the will of the voters, the text of the Court reads.
A ‘golden seat’ makes the difference
In its conclusions, the Court stresses that the electoral law does not provide for a specific right to request a review of invalid votes within the ordinary counting system and, considering that an unconditional right could lead to a generalised claim for a recount of votes, this recount would become de facto ordinary even though it is not provided for in the law.
For all these reasons, the magistrates consider that the resolution of the Madrid Electoral Board, subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court, does not violate the fundamental rights recognised in Article 23 of the Spanish Charter, as PSOE suggested.
Since the closing of the official vote counting, including the votes cast abroad, which confirmed one extra seat for the PP (137), PSOE has exhausted all legal means to request a recount in the hope of recovering the lost seat.
Winning this “golden” seat was crucial. For Sánchez, the abstention of JXCat in a future investiture debate is not enough: he needs its seven “yeses”.
If neither of the two candidates obtains the necessary support, Spain would have to hold new elections on 14 January 2024.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
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