• PSOE.Pedro Sánchez, proposed by Felipe VI as a candidate while hiding the negotiation with ERC
  • PP.Casado proposes that Cs and Navarra Suma refrain so that the investiture does not depend on ERC
  • Vox.Abascal declares "war" on the pact between Sánchez and Iglesias: "Total and frontal opposition"
  • We can. Churches cools the option of having an immediate government: "Much remains to be done"
  • Cs.Arrimadas calls Sánchez to look at the center and seek an agreement with PP and Cs

Pedro Sánchez is already the official candidate, appointed by the King, to the investiture. This was communicated on Wednesday night by the Head of State to the president of Congress, Meritxell Batet, after concluding the mandatory round of contacts with representatives of parliamentary forces.

Despite this, the date on which the applicant will submit his Government program to the Lower House and request the confidence of the deputies to form an Executive and start it up is still an unknown, because today Sánchez does not have the votes assured You need to overcome parliamentary scrutiny.

The first step that the candidate must take now is to hold a meeting with the president of Congress, who will report on the progress of their negotiations with the parties and make a forecast of the time required to add the necessary support that, in In short, they are more yeses than not in their favor. This balance now depends fundamentally on an agreement with ERC so that its 13 deputies agree to abstain in the investiture vote and thus facilitate the success of the candidate.

For now, negotiations with ERC remain unfinished. The Republican independence party is not in a hurry and has not set a date for an upcoming meeting with the PSOE negotiators. In any case, Pedro Sánchez will ask Batet to open an indeterminate, or not indefinite, parenthesis before calling the investiture plenary. There is no standard that sets a maximum time, but this cannot be excessive, at most a few weeks.

Endowment Plenary, after Christmas

For the moment, everything leads us to think that the investiture plenary session - prior essential agreement with ERC - would be held, despite the wishes of the PSOE and its partner Unidos Podemos, after the Christmas period.

The dates with which in recent days it has been speculated in parliamentary media are those of January 20 and 21 . On this second day, Tuesday, the first vote would be held in which the applicant would need the support of the absolute majority of the deputies (176 or more). Otherwise, a new vote would be called 48 hours later and by then only one result would be needed in which the yeses prevail over the noes.

In the event that socialists and Republicans achieved an impending pact, the process would be advanced. Practically, nobody is already betting on an investiture before Christmas, given that ERC is pending not only on the decision adopted by the European Court of Justice on the 19th day on the immunity of Oriol Junqueras, but also from its National Congress planned to on the 21st.

And there are few who believe that the debate could be called between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve or between New Year's Day and Three Kings Day, since the debate with its two votes monopolizes four days.

Once the debate is called, if the candidate does not get the support of the Chamber, the deadline for the automatic call for new elections will begin to run. This period is assessed: two months from the first investiture vote.

If there is no government, elections on May 10

In that period, the King should convene successive rounds of consultations with the representatives of the parliamentary forces in order to propose a new candidate for investiture: either the same, or a different one. The Constitution does not specify how many proposals should be and leaves this decision in the hands of the Head of State.

If in the aforementioned two months no applicant manages to obtain the confidence of the Chamber, Felipe VI with the endorsement of the president of the Congress, will proceed to the dissolution of the Chambers and the call for new general elections, which would be held 47 days later, post that it would be an electoral repetition.

In the event that the first failed vote occurred in the fourth week of January, and in the absence of a candidacy that would prosper before mid-March, the third general elections would be held on Sunday, May 10.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • ERC
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • PSOE
  • Philip VI
  • Meritxell Batet
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • President's Investiture
  • General elections

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