Spain’s PP head seeks support for ‘doomed to fail’ investiture

Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo will begin his first round of formal talks on Monday to secure the crucial parliamentary backing he needs to become Spain’s next prime minister, in a move his rival Socialist Party PSOE (S&D) said is doomed to fail.

Feijóo, leader of the main opposition party, won the snap election on 23 July with 137 votes but fell short of the 176 seats needed to win an absolute majority in the 350-seat parliament. He has also been given the mandate to form a government by King Filipe.

For his party to govern – alongside others – Feijóo has so far gathered an additional 33 of the far-right VOX (ECR) party, with which his party governs in various Spanish regions, one of the regional Coalición Canaria party, and another of centre-right Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN) – bringing him to a total 172.

“It is not impossible” to form a majority, sources in the PP insisted last week, although they admitted it was “complicated”.

However, the party still has about a month – until 26 September – to try to get the support it needs.

Spain’s King Felipe VI last week entrusted Feijóo with the task of trying to form a government, following the democratic tradition in Spain whereby the monarch gives this task to the candidate with the most votes in the elections.

Meanwhile, the acting Prime Minister and leader of the Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D), Pedro Sánchez, told the King of his intention to try to secure a new investiture, which he intends to do with the left-wing Sumar bloc, led by the acting Labour Minister, Yolanda Díaz.

However, neither the PSOE’s 121 seats nor Sumar’s 31 are enough to form a stable parliamentary majority. Sánchez relies on the seven seats of the Catalan pro-independence JXcat to return to power with the support of other nationalist formations, mainly Basque and Catalan.

However, both JXcat and the Catalan pro-independence party Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) have set several ‘red lines’ to back him in a new investiture, some of which pose challenges in terms of the constitution.

If neither of the two candidates obtains the necessary support, Spain would probably have to hold new elections on 14 January 2024.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)