On the agenda of the incumbent President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, is a date that is on fire: March 18, 2021. On that day, the popular leader succeeded in a motion of no confidence tabled jointly by the PSOE and Ciudadanos, a formation with which the PP had governed in a coalition since 2019. López Miras surpassed that milestone – which immediately turned the nationwide political map on its head – thanks to three breakaway CS MPs and three other wayward Vox, the party he was also with during tensions during the last legislature. But this battle won by López Miras has dictated his strategy since the May 28 elections: the PP leader has shown total opposition, not only to the ultras entering his future government, but also to the fact that he doesn’t even have a post at the meeting table. He doesn’t want ties, he doesn’t want alliances or coalitions, which have caused him so much trouble in the recent past. A position that clashes with that of other popular barons who have signed agreements with Vox to invest in four other autonomous communities – Castile and León, Extremadura, Aragon and the Valencian Community.
But López Miras must forget the past or Vox will stop calling for a coalition government. Otherwise, there will be a repeat of the elections in the Murcia region: the deadline for the PP and Vox to agree on an investiture expires on September 7th in just 12 days. If no one backs down, the call for a rerun of the elections would come amid talks to inaugurate Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who needs the backing of Santiago Abascal’s party.
More information
And the situation is still open. Vox regional representatives again this week called for a joint board agreement. “Opinion polls have spoken on 28-M, saying that a coalition government that respects the election result must be formed. “We are still waiting for López Miras’ call to sit down for negotiations without red lines,” wrote José Ángel Antelo, chairman of Vox in Murcia, this Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter), a day after Alberto Núñez Feijóo became the presidential candidate was appointed for the king. The national leadership of the People’s Party has so far supported López Miras without any breaks, but the current scenario has other ingredients.
Feijóo and Abascal spoke on Monday to calm tensions and converge positions after the PP also expelled Vox from the Congress table – which in response had not voted for the PP candidate for the Chamber’s presidency, Cuca Gamarra – and before the round of contacts with the king, in which Abascal pledged his support to the President of the PP. A gesture for which Feijóo thanked him, acknowledging the strength of his 33 seats publicly and with a clarity he had not done before. But this rapprochement at national level also had the background of Murcia, where the region’s ability to govern depends on the will of both parties, the only community where the executive has not yet adapted. In Murcia, the PP won 21 seats and 42.87% of the vote, the best result of the five autonomies in which they needed Vox and two seats for an absolute majority, although they need the ultras’ abstention to govern. Vox also achieved the highest proportion of votes and nine seats there with 17.72%.
The popular leadership insists that López Miras has the last word. However, there is silence around the incumbent president and the answer is always the same: “There is nothing new.” With the pressure on his shoulders, the people’s leader limited himself to answering questions about a hypothetical meeting with the Vox spokesman this Tuesday : “We have to see it.”
What affects most is what happens closer. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything.
subscribe to
The remoteness of both formations at the regional level is at odds with the agreement reached in several municipalities where they govern together, such as Molina de Segura, Torre-Pacheco, Yecla, Totana and Cieza. In Lorca this Thursday, the mayor, the popular Fulgencio Gil, assured his belief that there would be “some kind of contact and movement” “soon”. “At the moment I believe that there is a general dynamic of cooperation between the two parties in this regard and I am convinced that contacts will be made in the coming days,” he stressed.
The demands of Vox
Vox calls for a coalition government in which the ultras have a vice presidency and two councils. Some aspirations considered disproportionate in the Murcian PP given the election result. Although the People’s Party Vox resigned from the parliamentary board in early June, over time the PP relinquished positions and made a counter-offer in mid-summer to reach an agreement: retrospective entry to the board, a regional senator and other institutional fees . Vox rejected “the armchairs”.
At this point, the only option left is López Miras to relent, or Vox to ease his demands to zero or at most one advice. Even in this case, the agreement is not guaranteed, since the resistance of the regional leader of the PP to govern in a coalition is enormous.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits