The new countdown to the elections has begun: the formation of a government in Spain has failed

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As expected, the 62-year-old’s candidacy for the post of Prime Minister and successor to Socialist Pedro Sánchez, who has only been in power since the end of July, was rejected by the lower house in Madrid by 178 votes to 172. .

The bankruptcy has consequences: according to the constitution, the countdown to new elections started with the first rejected application. The pressure is growing. If no head of government is found within two months, i.e. on November 27, the Spaniards will have to go to the polls again on January 14. It is not just a domestic political blockade that is looming. This would mean that the entire Spanish presidency of the EU Council until December 31 would be overshadowed by political uncertainty in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

During the debates, the Socialists and representatives of other parties accused Feijóo of robbing Spain of “valuable time” in a difficult time with inflation, war and the migration crisis in Europe with his candidacy, which was considered hopeless.

Feijóo will get a new chance on Friday. Unlike Wednesday’s vote, in which he would have needed an absolute majority of at least 176 votes, a simple majority is sufficient for the head of the conservative People’s Party PP. But that is also not in sight for the candidate. The state television channel RTVE spoke of an “impossible candidacy”. After Feijóo, Sánchez, who has been in power since 2018, is also expected to make a bid in October or November.

In the July 23 elections, the PP received the most votes and the most seats in the “Congreso de los Diputados”, ahead of Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE). However, because neither party initially received enough support from other groups to form a majority capable of governing, King Felipe VI. decided that the election winner would register first.

Feijóo’s failure was largely attributed to the fact that he was supported by the 33 MPs of the right-wing populist party Vox. Without them he would have had no chance anyway, as his PP only has 137 seats. Only two small conservative regional parties voted for Feijóo with one vote each, despite the ‘common cause’ with Vox.

A ‘grand coalition’ between the PP and the PSOE is considered impossible in Spain, because the two traditional parties are ideologically much further apart than their German sister parties, the CDU and the SPD. Therefore, it is now probably a matter of a new edition of Sánchez for Spain or a months-long blockade.

The socialist gets better chances than his conservative rival. In addition to the votes of the left-wing Sumar alliance and smaller regional parties, Sánchez also needs agreements with the left-wing ERC of Catalan Prime Minister Pere Aragonès and with the Junts party of separatist leader and Spanish fugitive from justice Carles Puigdemont. who lives in exile in Belgium. Both the ERC and the Junts strive for independence for Catalonia. For their support of a left-wing government, they demand, among other things, amnesty for the ‘Catalanitas’ who participated in the failed attempt at secession in 2017.

(SDA)

Source: Blick