There are just over 48 hours left for the constitution of the more than 8,000 town halls in Spain and the negotiations are advancing with more or less discretion. The autonomous communities, although they have much more room to negotiate, are also the subject of transactions between parties during these days, especially between the Popular Party and the far-right Vox party, without whose assistance it will be difficult to govern. Pacts of the right with the ultranationalist party that are negotiated in town halls such as Toledo or Guadalajara, where the most voted list was the socialist.
Vox announced yesterday a pre-agreement with the PP to govern the Burgos City Council in coalition, according to which the popular candidate, Cristina Ayala, will be the mayor, the first in the history of the city, and the representative of Vox, Fernando Martínez Acitores, I would be the vice mayor. It was he who confirmed this pre-agreement to the media yesterday, although he added that “some fringes” are missing, such as the distribution of municipal powers between both parties.
The socialist Daniel de la Rosa, candidate from the most voted list with 12 councillors, had offered the PP a pact as a priority partner and even form part of the government, always with the socialist as mayor. The PP obtained 11 deputies and Vox three. Burgos would be one of the cases – there are 14 provincial capitals in this situation – in which the two parties on the right have more councilors than the party that won the elections, the PSOE.
Jesús Julio Carnero is emerging as the next mayor of Valladolid. The PP candidate is approaching positions with Vox, the third party in the 28-M elections, in which the PSOE was the party with the most votes and the PP the second, although both were tied at 11 councilors each. The three Vox councilors are worth their weight in gold.
Murcia was the first autonomous government in which former Vox militants played a decisive role in ensuring the continuity of the Fernando López Miras government in that crisis – now forgotten – that took Ciudadanos away. Now, after the elections, the PP has 21 seats, almost an absolute majority, and needs at least two Vox votes to reach it and block the way for the second party, the PSOE, with 13 deputies, and Podemos, with two.
Everyone expected that in the constitution of the Murcian Parliament the ultra party would take over one of the secretaries of the Chamber, but surprisingly that option went to the PSOE, which greatly annoyed Vox, whose leader, Santiago Abascal, warned that if this continues, the party will promote a new electoral call. For the far-right party, “it is yielding to the pressure of Genoa street.” Vox aspired to keep the presidency of Parliament. Once the Chamber is constituted, there is no date for the investiture debate. López Miras can take the negotiation calmly.
If one thing is clear, it is that the PSOE, despite being the party with the most votes on 28-M, has already given up the government. The current president, Fernández Vara, is studying the possibility of ending up as a senator by autonomous designation while two of his advisers, that of Agriculture, Rural Development, Population and Territory and the spokesman for the Executive, have resigned to go to Congress.
Immediately after the elections, the PP candidate, María Guardiola, announced her intention to come to terms with Vox and reiterated it in a daily appearance to put pressure on her representatives. However, for a few days, both have imposed silence. The agreement must be imminent.
The winner of the last regional elections, the PP candidate, Marga Prohens, met yesterday with representatives of Abascal’s party to try to close an agreement, but the premise with which she arrives at the negotiation is resounding: there will be no mixed government with Vox, as in the Valencian Community, even if this blockade leads to early elections.
In the Balearic Islands, the PP won 26 deputies and fell four seats short of an absolute majority. She outnumbers the entire left in seats, so an abstention from the eight Vox deputies would be enough for her to be president. The PP is willing to give up a position on the Parliamentary Table to those of Vox, but it is not considering giving up the presidency of the autonomous Chamber. Vox has become entrenched in its demand to enter the Government, although initially Vox’s requests were more lukewarm given the evidence that Prohens does not need your votes, but your abstention.
