Once the electoral results of last Sunday were digested, Spanish politics has already entered a phase of false calm where the different parties act with fear of a possible electoral repetition. It seems almost impossible that Alberto Núñez Feijóo could have enough support to be sworn in as president, and no one can be sure at this time that Pedro Sánchez may also be able to achieve it, although, at least, he knows where he has to go to look for it. Therefore, faced with the risk of new elections, the most important thing is to win the battle of the story and that the blame for the failure to reach an agreement to form a new government always lies with the opponent.
This is how the PP’s proposal to seek the support of socialist deputies is understood because “the state parties” have won. Feijóo knows, after his intense campaign to govern the most voted list, that the PSOE will never facilitate his inauguration with an abstention. In turn, the Socialists have focused on Junts per Catalunya, whom he considers an essential part for there to be a government. Carles Puigdemont’s formation is already being pressured by land, sea and air so that he sits down to negotiate.
Everyone has in their heads what happened in the endless months of the blockade that Spain suffered in 2019. In the April elections, Ciudadanos obtained 57 seats, improving the 32 obtained in 2016 and being very close to the 66 obtained by the PP . Sensation of surprise and that Albert Rivera’s party could become the star formation of the Spanish center-right. The administration of those months meant that in the repetition in November Ciudadanos was seen as guilty of the paralysis of the country, and it went from those 57 deputies to only a dozen. Here began the end of the game. Rivera has always denied that there was a real offer from Sánchez to form a government, but the story perceived by the majority of Spaniards is the opposite and that Cs did not contribute to governability.
Now nobody wants to be Rivera, and that if there is electoral repetition, the fault is always someone else’s.
