Alberto Núñez Feijóo will not have another thing, but his tenacity must be recognized. Yesterday, his wish to stand for the inauguration, the same one that he had expressed on the night of July 23 after winning the elections, was fulfilled. The numbers still do not give him, but after receiving the order from the King to try to form a government, he will work for it, and so next week he will start a round of talks with all the groups in Congress.
At the moment, the vote of 172 deputies is guaranteed, “four of the absolute majority”, stressed the president of the PP in an appearance in Congress after being received by Felipe VI in the Zarzuela. This appointment closed the King’s round of consultations with the parties. To have those supports he has worked this month. So no one took it for granted, first, that Abascal would commit his support without demanding to be part of the government, as he had done in the autonomous communities and town halls, and then those of the other two deputies, that of UPN, which already seemed guaranteed, but also the of the Canarian Coalition, a party that the PSOE courted so as not to depend on the yes of Junts and that their abstention would be enough.
Feijóo is four votes short of being invested and still holds out hope that the PNV will agree to speak with him. He knows that a favorable vote is impossible, as the jeltzales have been in charge of making clear, but within the proposals of the PP he could aspire to an abstention. It would not be enough, but if he managed to add the Junts deputies to that abstention, the popular 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 established himself as the candidate of “democratic dignity”, which makes possible “a stable government not subject to no personal ambition. Or, 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, promotion of the State of the autonomies, the preservation of the neutrality of the powers of the State, and having a scrupulous respect for judicial sentences 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, “to an amnesty, a referendum on self-determination and to make official the inequality of the Spaniards.” He is the candidate – the leader of the PP defended himself – “who best defends” the principles of the Constitution against those who want to end it, and that is why those who want to divide Spain “prefer a more manageable candidate”.
The popular leader defended his candidacy because his party was the party 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 a duty to place himself “at the disposal of the head of state.”
In his appearance in Congress, Feijóo did not forget to thank the three parties that have put their votes at his disposal, UPN and CC, for their support, but with a special nod to Vox, after Abascal put as a condition for his support that the PP not participate in the “sanitary cordon” in which the other parties participate. The president of the PP launched an “express thanks to Vox”, with whom he, he said, “we share governments in autonomous communities and town halls”, within “democratic normality”. A thank you for his unconditional support to govern alone and in defense of “a constitutionalist government for Spain”, while he expressed the conviction that “the collaborative relationship will be maintained”.
However, the president of the PP wanted to make it clear that his words had been written before Abascal, with whom he acknowledged that he had spoken, put that condition on Feijóo not to underestimate Vox. He believes that what has occurred between the two parties have been “discrepancies and misunderstandings”, which have been clarified in that conversation.