The King of Spain will begin a second round of contacts with parties with parliamentary representation this Monday, following the rejection on Friday by the Plenary Assembly of Deputies of the candidacy for Prime Minister of the leader of the Popular Party (PP, right).
The PP was the party with the most votes in the July 23 elections and in August King Felipe VI nominated Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the people, as a candidate for prime minister, but the inauguration was rejected by the deputies. 177 votes against the 350 in parliament.
With the ‘leadership’ of parliament to Feijóo, a two-month period began, ending on November 27, during which the Congress of Deputies had to elect a new head of government. There will be no repeat of the elections.
The new round of auditions with the parties ends on Tuesday and Felipe VI is expected to nominate a new candidate to lead the government, to be voted on by parliament.
The new candidate will, predictably, be the leader of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, who has already said he is available and believes he has the conditions to gain the necessary support in parliament to be reappointed as Prime Minister.
Sánchez says he already demonstrated this on August 17, when the Socialists managed to win the presidency of Parliament thanks to the support of left-wing parties and nationalist and independence forces in Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country.
The leader of the PSOE recently said that there will be a new left-wing government in Spain “shortly”.
The leaders of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV, its acronym in Spanish) and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), essential for the viability of Sánchez’s government, said that everything is “very open” and that they “absolutely do not rule out the repeat of the elections” and that “nothing is final” with the PSOE.
Independentists are asking Sánchez for amnesty for those involved in Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2017 and the negotiations for a self-determination referendum in the region.
If Sánchez’s candidacy also fails, the Spanish Cortes (Senate and Congress of Deputies) formed after the July 23 elections will be automatically dissolved on November 27 and 47 days later, i.e. on January 14, 2024, be a new legislature.
Spain has already repeated elections twice, in 2016 and 2019, as no candidate for prime minister was approved by parliament.
Source: DN
