Pedro Sánchez on Monday cooled the possibility of reaching an agreement with Alberto Núñez Feijóo after the November 29 elections to keep the far-right Vox out of the Government. In his interview on La Séptima, the president responded to a question from Hugo Pereira, director of ElConstitucional.es, about whether PSOE and PP could commit to facilitating the investiture of the most voted party. "I think this debate is already over," Sánchez replied before pointing to the electoral agreement that the popular party has closed with Vox for the Senate.
Pereira posed the question "as a journalist, but also as a citizen" and laid out two scenarios. If the PSOE comes in first, the PP could facilitate Sánchez's investiture. If the PP wins, the socialists would do the same for Feijóo. The goal would be to prevent Santiago Abascal from entering the Government of Spain, as has already happened in Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla y León, and Extremadura, where PP and Vox share the Executive.
"If you want, we can talk about science fiction," Sánchez replied. The president based his refusal to explore that formula on a decision that the PP has already made before the elections. "The PP is asking for votes for Vox in Girona, in Tarragona, and in Gipuzkoa," he stated. Feijóo, for his part, defended this Sunday that he aspires to govern alone, but left open the possibility of a coalition with Abascal if he needs his votes.
What would have to happen in Congress
Pereira's proposal affects the investiture, which is voted on in Congress. The candidate needs 176 votes in the first ballot. If he does not gather them, 48 hours later it is enough for him to obtain more yes votes than no votes. It is in that second ballot where an abstention by the PSOE or the PP could facilitate the election of the candidate of the other party, depending on the seats and how the rest of the groups vote. Coming in first in the elections, by itself, does not give the right to govern.
There is a precedent. In August 2023, after the PP was the most voted force, Feijóo asked Sánchez to abstain to allow him to govern alone for two years. Sánchez rejected that proposal, which included six state pacts. The formula proposed this Monday in La Séptima added a reciprocal commitment and an express objective: that either of them could be invested without handing over portfolios to Vox.
The pact with the far-right Vox that Sánchez reproaches Feijóo for
The agreement that Sánchez has brandished is limited to the Senate. The PP has renounced presenting candidates in Girona, Tarragona, and Gipuzkoa, while Vox has done the same in six other constituencies. In fourteen others, Abascal's party presents only one candidate, so its voters can also mark two names from the PP. It is a distribution of candidacies to add up in the Upper House. The election of the President of the Government is decided with the deputies who emerge from 29N.
Sánchez took advantage of the question from ElConstitucional.es to recall that the PP accused him of breaking Spain when he defended amnesty and reproached Feijóo for now leaving Vox the space that the popular party has decided to cede to it in those constituencies. "What is the Popular Party offering in Catalonia and Euskadi? Vox?" he concluded.
