As much as the accounts do not come out, or at least are very difficult, Alberto Núñez Feijóo remains determined to try his investiture, and as he announced on Sunday night, this Monday he began contacts with the other parties. In addition to the WhatsApp message that was exchanged with Pedro Sánchez, already at dawn, and that they were summoned to speak when the CERA vote is counted, that is, on Friday, this morning, the president of the PP spoke with the presidents of UPN, the Canary Islands Coalition, PNV and Vox.
From those conversations, he already has one more vote to add to the investiture, insufficient to get the necessary support. It’s the UPN vote. With the Canary Coalition, after a first contact, “the way has been opened” to be able to count on that support, something expected given that the PP governs with the Canary Coalition on the islands, in a coalition government. In his conversations with the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, by WhatsApp, and with the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, first by WhatsApp and later by phone call, Feijóo and the leaders of these parties have called for further conversations.
Conversations with a single objective, to give Spain a government “as soon as possible”, because Spain, said the president of the PP before the national board of directors of his party, “cannot allow alliances against the opposition or blockades”, and for this the PP, “which is the party that won the elections” has a responsibility, although there is the alternative of “an alliance between losers, which, “would need more parties than ever, starting with Bildu and ERC”, and also, “the contest of a party led by a profu go to the Spanish Justice”.
In his speech before the national board of directors of the PP, Feijóo vindicated himself, recalling the situation of the party 15 months ago, when he became president of the PP, and in such a short time it has returned to being the first party in Spain, the first in Congress, and with an absolute majority in the Senate, which in his opinion “will be key”. It has also been, he stressed, the greatest growth the party has had in its history, with 47 more seats than the last legislature.
A demand that to many sounded like a response to PP supporters who on Sunday night, when Feijóo celebrated on the balcony of the PP headquarters that they had won the elections, chanted the name “Ayuuso, Ayuuuso”. All the barons of the PP, from Juanma Moreno to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and now there are many who are in charge of the government, gave their full support to Feijóo, in a closing ranks that tried to cover up the messages launched from the left that the leadership of the president of the PP is in question.
They all assured without the slightest doubt that if the elections have to be repeated, the candidate will be Feijóo. Ayuso herself, when asked if the leadership of the popular leader is in question, answered with “I don’t think so.” The indisputable leadership, and they ratified it with a prolonged applause from all the leaders of the PP standing up.
In her public statements, and later within the board of directors, the president of the Community of Madrid reiterated her support for Feijóo over and over again. “Alberto Núñez Feijóo has achieved great things, he has won the elections; since he was president, the map of Spain has been dyed blue.” She also made it clear that “I am at his entire disposal, and I will be by his side at all times.”
On something else all the barons agreed, that Feijóo should try to govern, since it has been the list with the most votes. Among the arguments, one of the Madrid president, who considers that it would be inconsistent not to do so with what, in its day, the PP asked Inés Arrimadas, when it was the first force in Catalonia, and is still reproached today for giving up without trying.
The president of the PP is going to try, he said, because “Spain needs moderation and understanding, not to depend on radical and pro-independence minorities” and requires that “there be a government as soon as possible”, Feijóo speaks of “the next few weeks”. He considers that the Spanish have wanted no one to have an “absolute majority of a party”, but he does not believe that he has decided on “impossible formulas”, as in his opinion the Sánchez government would be, with the support of Bildu, ERC or Junts.
That is why he believes that he has to lead the talks to try to govern, “with respect for the majority will of the citizens, without ideological apriorities, with respect for the Constitution and our nation.”
The alternative, “the coalition of losers”, is far from it, in Feijóo’s opinion, what Spain needs, because those called to support that government “will have greater demands and a greater presence of the independentistas.” It would be, he said, “an implantable scenario.”
