The tenacity of Alberto Núñez Feijóo must be acknowledged. Yesterday his desire to present himself at the investiture, the same one he had expressed on the night of July 23, after winning the elections, was fulfilled. He does not have enough support to achieve this, but after receiving the King’s order to try to form a government, he will work to do so, and so, next week, he will start a round of talks with all groups in Congress.
At the moment, he is guaranteed the vote of 172 deputies, “four short of the absolute majority”, stressed the president of the PP in an appearance in Congress, after being received by Felipe VI in the Zarzuela. An appointment that closed the round of consultations with the parties. To have these supports he worked during this month. At the time, no one took it for granted, first, that Santiago Abascal pledged his support without demanding to be part of the government, as he had done in autonomous communities and town councils and, then, those of the other two deputies, that of UPN, which already seemed guaranteed , and also that of Coalició Canària, a party that the PSOE celebrated in order not to depend on the yes of Junts and to have enough with its abstention.
Feijóo lacks four votes to be invested and still holds out hope that the PNB will agree to talk to him. He knows that a favorable vote is impossible, as the Basque nationalists have taken care to make clear, but within the approaches of the PP he could aspire to an abstention. It would not be enough, but if he managed to add to this abstention the deputies of Junts, the people believe that the investiture of Feijóo is still possible, although unlikely.
After meeting with the King, and even before his candidacy was made public, Feijóo appeared at a press conference in Congress and set himself up as the candidate of “democratic dignity”, which makes it possible ” a stable government not subject to any personal ambition”. In other words, “the candidate of those who want stability, moderation, agreements and the Constitution”. The pillars of his hypothetical government will be: “Defense of the Constitution, the State’s push for autonomy, the preservation of the neutrality of the State’s powers, and scrupulous respect for judicial rulings and judicial procedures.”
The alternative to his candidacy, said Feijóo, “which is four seats away from an absolute majority”, would be that of the PSOE, which is “close to an amnesty, a referendum on self-determination and officializing the inequality of the Spanish”. He is the candidate, defended the leader of the PP, “who best defends” the principles of the Constitution against those who want to eliminate it, and that is why those who want to divide Spain “love more a more malleable candidate” .
The popular leader defended his candidacy because his party was the formation with the most votes in the elections, because it has already obtained the support of three parties and has 172 seats, and because he considered it his duty to make himself “at the disposal of the head of the state”.
In his appearance in Congress, Feijóo did not neglect to thank the three parties that have put their votes at his disposal, UPN and CC, but with a special gesture towards Vox, after Abascal put as on the condition for their support that the PP did not participate in the “sanitary cordon” promoted by the other parties. The president of the PP sent an “express thanks to Vox”, with whom, he said, his party “shares governments in autonomous communities and town councils”, within “democratic normality”. A thank you for his unconditional support to govern alone, and in defense of “a constitutionalist government for Spain”, while expressing his conviction that “the relationship of collaboration will be maintained”.
However, the president of the PP wanted to make it clear that he had written his words before Abascal, with whom he acknowledged that he had spoken, put this condition on Feijóo not to belittle Vox. He believes that what has existed between the two parties have been “discrepancies and misunderstandings”, which have been clarified in that conversation.
