MADRID (AP) — The leader of Spain’s conservatives tried to convince lawmakers on Tuesday to let him form the country’s new government, a green light he wasn’t expected to get during two rounds of voting in the Spanish parliament later this week.
Spain’s July 23 national election gave Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s Popular Party the most seats in the parliament’s 350-member lower chamber, but well shy of an absolute majority, setting the stage for a difficult path to power.
Under the Spanish Constitution, two investiture votes will determine whether Feijóo has authorization to form a government — likely a coalition with the far-right Vox party. He needs approval from a simple majority of 176 lawmakers in the first vote, which is scheduled for Wednesday after hours of debate.
If he misses that mark, the bar would be lowered for the second round, in which he would need only more “yes” than “no” votes. Abstentions could sway the result in that situation. The second vote is set for Friday.
The Popular Party holds 137 seats in the Congress of the Deputies, the most of any party. But even with backing from Vox’s 33 lawmakers and two from small conservative parties representing Navarra and the Canary Islands, Feijóo is still four votes short.
If he fails to win approval, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would get a shot at staying in the Moncloa Palace. The center-left Socialist leader would have to round up enough support of lawmakers from a group of competing leftist, regionalist and even separatist parties.
In exchange for their support, separatist parties from northeastern Spain’s Catalonia region are demanding an amnesty for possibly thousands of people involved in a failed 2017 secession bid and protests against the Spanish government’s resulting crackdown. Sánchez also needs to woo rival parties from the Basque region.
Feijóo, 62, is trying to use opposition to the possible Catalan amnesty to boost his slim chances. He started his speech to lawmakers Tuesday by accusing Sánchez of being willing to bend to the demands of the separatists, who include fugitives such as Catalonia’s former regional leader Carles Puigdemont who fled Spain six years ago.
“I have within my reach the votes that I need to become prime minister,” Feijóo said to laughs from some of his left-wing rivals. “But I am not ready to accept the price I was asked to pay for them.”
Feijóo proposed that, if made prime minister, he would push for a new law to punish “constitutional disloyalty” that would apparently replace a sedition law that was scrapped last year to help Catalan separatists in legal trouble.
He also mocked Sánchez’s argument that his legal reforms, which included the pardoning of nine leaders of Catalonia’s separatist movement, have led to reduced tensions in Barcelona.
“It is true that there are fewer protests, but why would they get up out of their chairs if you are giving them everything they ask for?” Feijóo said to applause from his party.
After blasting Sánchez, Feijóo laid out the main points of his plan to govern, which included tax cuts along with a pledge to make preschool free for children up to 3 years old. He thanked Vox for its support, but also made a series of nods to center-right policies from adapting to climate change to fighting gender violence, areas that it diverges from Vox.
Feijóo has had difficulties currying the favor of many smaller parties because of the Popular Party’s alliances in some regions with Vox, which is considered anathema by many for its far-right views and its desire to eliminate Spain’s regional governments and concentrate power in Madrid.
A failure by Feijóo to form a government would automatically start a two-month period in which Sánchez could try to form a new government. If he also fails, parliament would be dissolved on Nov. 27 and a new election would be called for Jan. 14.
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Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona.
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