Pedro Sánchez is not considering blocking and repeating the elections after the July 23 election result. “Spain is a parliamentary democracy with its deadlines and procedures. “This democracy will find the formula for governability,” the PSOE leader took for granted during the meeting with the party’s federal leadership, according to socialist sources. However, the scenario the country faces is one of possible institutional deadlock: the victor, the PP, would not secure an absolute majority even with the support of Vox, UPN and the Canarian Coalition, while the Socialists, if supported by the ERC, PNV and EH Bildu, would need the abstention of Junts – a pro-independence party whose leader Carles Puigdemont is a fugitive from justice – to reconfirm the executive. Federal Executive sources are blunt: Amnesty for pro-independence leaders convicted for their role in the process and holding a self-determination referendum are two “uncrossable” red lines for the PSOE.
The PSOE general secretary celebrated that “11 million people voted for the advance,” alluding to the 7.8 million votes his party received and the three million for Sumar, Yolanda Díaz’s project. After the disaster of the 28-M municipal and regional elections, Sánchez even improved the result of the November 2019 general elections, in which he received 6,792,199 votes and 120 seats, two fewer than now, pending the recount of foreign votes. “They declared us dead and here we are. Do you know when the PSOE wins? If he doesn’t give up,” Sánchez affirmed, according to sources present.
“Spain has said no to involution and regression and the PSOE is a reference in Europe and the world. “It’s not that we got 30% of the vote, it’s that we got 32%,” the president insisted in a two-hour closed session, according to the same sources. Sánchez has predicted a “quiet August” and Ferraz leaders believe the next month should be used for all parties to read the result “from the PP to the junts” in peace. “The elections reflect that there is a pluralistic Spain and that a party must assume that,” influencing the socialist leadership on the strategy the right has pursued in its attempt to reach La Moncloa. “Let people rest and enjoy the holidays,” Sánchez concluded in a short speech, recalling that the Cortes will be constituted on August 17. Until then, at least, the PSOE is “in no hurry” to initiate contacts to form an alternative majority to the PP.
failed investiture
While awaiting Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s steps, Socialist leadership sources consulted believe the PP candidate will not show up for a failed inauguration. The PSOE is by no means considering facilitating Feijóo’s inauguration, although he claims to be the list with the most votes. Although, according to these sources, the issue was not raised at the board meeting, even the most critical of barons are unanimous in dismissing the possibility. Both Ferraz and the PSOE regional leaders are well aware that the PP did not let them govern in Extremadura and the Canary Islands, even though the PSOE was the first force on 28-M there, just like in provincial capitals like Valladolid, Toledo, Burgos and hundred town halls.
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Another argument put forward by the PSOE is that the PP did not facilitate the inauguration of Sánchez in the summer of 2019 – there were re-elections in November – unlike the Socialists did in 2016 when they facilitated the inauguration of Mariano Rajoy (against Pedro Sánchez’s opposition). A decision that opened the way to the PSOE and marked the origin of its worst recent crisis, with Sánchez’s resignation as party leader in the convulsive federal committee on October 1 of the same year and his re-election with more than half the votes of socialist militancy seven months later. “The PP must now face its contradictions,” remarked one of the chiefs of the executive branch, according to socialist sources.
The leadership of the PSOE, who banged on the table at the beginning of the meeting and celebrated the result, did not read out the results in detail in the individual communities. The dozen members who have asked to speak after the secretary-general have highlighted the numbers achieved after a legislature marked by the pandemic, the economic impact of the war in Ukraine and the attacks Sánchez has suffered from the opposition in a highly polarized climate.
“Today was just enthusiastic euphoria and a desire to celebrate,” summarized a board member, thanking former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for his contribution to the campaign. Zapatero contested 14 rallies and covered 6,000 kilometers. No one said anything about the lack of commitment from Felipe González, who did not specifically request a vote for his party. The session ended with applause. “The feeling of being able to continue fighting for rights and freedoms has grown and we must work on this basis,” stressed Third Vice-President Teresa Ribera on her arrival in Ferraz. “Spain spoke very clearly, said no and stopped the ultra coalition. “It is a day of great joy for all progressive people,” said the Minister for the Presidency, Félix Bolaños. “Spain spoke clearly yesterday and said that it wants to move forward,” said Pilar Alegría, education minister and spokesperson for the PSOE leadership.
The Socialists were the party with the most votes in Catalonia, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Navarre and Extremadura. The decisive factor was the strength of the PSC in Catalonia (it increases from 12 to 19 seats). They also got more MPs than in 2019 in the Canary Islands (up from 5 to 6), the Balearic Islands (up from 2 to 3), Cantabria (up from 1 to 2, attracting voters from the People’s Republic of China), Madrid and the Valencian Community (up from 10 to 11), the Basque Country (up from 4 to 5) and Navarre (up from 1 to 2). The PSOE retains its seats in Castile and León (12), Murcia (3) and La Rioja (2), losing four in Andalusia (from 25 to 21), three in Galicia (from 10 to 7), two in Aragón (from 6 to 4) and one in Asturias (from 3 to 2), Castile-La Mancha (from 9 to 8) and Extremadura (from 5 to 4), where they are penalized for the fact that the Municipality gave up a seat in favor of the Valencian Community due to the decline in population.
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