Spain: How many votes does Feijóo need for his investiture to go ahead?

Alberto Núñez Feijóoleader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), will submit himself from this Tuesday to his investiture as President of the Government before the Congress of Deputies of the Spain, without having obtained sufficient support, so the attempt is expected to fail. If this happens, it will give rise to the possibility that socialism Pedro Sanches intends to remain in the Moncloa Palace, as long as it gathers the necessary votes.

Sunday, Núñez Feijóo62 years old, and the PP, met in Madrid around 40 thousand people to reject a hypothetical amnesty for the investiture between Sanchez and the Catalan independentists who participated in the process secessionist 2017.

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“I am very clear, I owe myself exclusively to all Spaniards, for them I am, nothing more, whether or not I will be president of the government, now or soon, but as far as I am concerned, what will remain for Spain will be freedom, equality and dignity he said Núñez Feijóowhile his followers waved Spanish flags and uttered slogans like “No to amnesty”.

Former Presidents of the Government José María Aznar (left) and Mariajo Rajoy (right) together with the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez-Feijóo, during a PP event held in Plaza de Felipe II in Madrid. (EFE/ Borja Sánchez Trillo).

On Thursday last week, he also referred to amnesty saying that “it does not fit into the Constitution”. It is “an attack on laws and the unfair and amoral division of powers”. sustained.

In the elections held on July 23, The Popular Party obtained the highest number of votes, with 137 deputies. But, like the other parties that participated, it fell far short of the absolute majority that would allow it to directly access power.

The Congress of Spain after the last elections. (AFP).

Below are the political scenarios that could occur in Spain from this Tuesday:

Since Tuesday, Alberto Núñez Feijóo will have two opportunities to become president of the government of Spain.

The process will begin with the speech of Núñez Feijóo in Congress, where you must defend your political lines for the management you propose and thus ask for the support you need. Then will come the debate of the deputies.

On Wednesday, after 24 hours of parliamentary debate, Núñez Feijóo will need to obtain an absolute majority of 176 votes in the Congress of Deputiesof a total of 350 seats, to be the next president of the Government.

If this number is not reached, there will be a new vote on Friday in which the PP leader will only need more “Yes” votes than “No” votes to be sworn in.

The current scenario of the Spanish right is the following: adding to the alliances that the PP has achieved, Nuñez Beans He is four votes short in Congress to reach the necessary majority of 176 votes.

As the EFE agency explains, after the elections and since the king Philip VI proposed Núñez Feijóo as candidate, obtained the support of the extreme right Vox, with 33 deputies; plus two others from the respective regionalist groups, with which totals 172 votes in its favor.

So, in second vote Friday, the fate of Núñez Feijóo It will depend on whether the abstention votes that are cast will end up tipping the balance in your favor.

But the Catalan separatists who could influence their abstention have already ruled out doing so, as they consider that the PP has a belligerent attitude towards their independence movement.

Furthermore, the conservative Basque party PNV will not abstain either, arguing that any agreement that could associate them with Vox it would be a failure.

“Vox It’s an elephant that is in the middle of the corridor… and that, no matter how much they want, they cannot hide”, said the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, on Spanish National Radio.

Pedro Sánchez applauds as he takes part in the Catalan Socialist Party’s “Festa de la Rosa” political rally near Barcelona, ​​September 24, 2023. (Photo by Pau BARRENA/AFP). (PAU BARRENA/)

Yes Núñez Feijóo fails, it is up to the king to open a new consultation period before entrusting the investiture to a candidate again. In this case, it will be Pedro Sanches, whose party won 121 seats in the July elections. This entire process, until the vote in the Congress of Deputies, can take up to two months.

At this moment the PSOE made alliances that allowed him to obtain the support of 31 votes from To addthe 7th of CKDthe 6th of Bilduthe 5 of PNV It is one of BNG. But to get to 176, Pedro Sanches the key vote of the Catalan independentists grouped in Togetherwhich are 7.

It won’t be easy to get there. O Catalan independentists In exchange for their vote, they demand, among other things, an amnesty for all those prosecuted for the separatist attempt in Catalonia in 2017.

The leader of the Junts is Carlos Puigdemont, a fugitive from Spanish justice who resides in Brussels, where he sits in the European Parliament.

As the AP agency explains, Puigdemont fled Spain in 2017, after leading a failed attempt at independence for Catalonia. He now has a strong political weight thanks to the seven seats in the Together.

Their demand is an amnesty for an undetermined number of Catalans who face legal problems for the role they played in the separatist attempt.

So far, no socialist leader has spoken about the possibility of agreeing to an amnesty, an issue that is very unpopular in Spain, even among socialists.

And what did he say Sanchez? He did not directly mention his position regarding amnesty, but stated that it will be “consistent with the policy of normalization and stabilization of the political situation in Catalonia” that he has followed since coming to power in 2018.

What happens if Sánchez also fails? In this case, a period of two months begins, at the end of which new legislative elections will be called, which would be in January 2024.

Source: Elcomercio