We still don’t know if this democracy will know how to find the formula for governability, as Pedro Sánchez maintains. It’s still early. The parties must speak. What we do know is that the line that separates the investiture from the blockade in the Spanish political system is full of curves and corners, since neither the Constitution nor the state laws establish, as the autonomous laws do, that once constitute the Congress of Deputies, a candidate must be invested in a specific term. This can be a drawback if the deadline is very peremptory and the negotiations have not been completed (in Catalonia it is just ten days), but reality shows that it acts as a stimulus for the creation of a government, often with coalition majorities.

What is certain is that leaving a period open without proposing any candidate generates many problems, since it perpetuates the government in office – in this case since July 24 -, with serious limitations to act, forced to not be able to make budgets or laws . We remember how barren were the 314 days that passed between the 2015 elections and Mariano Rajoy’s investiture on October 29, 2016, at the end of the two-month period from the first investiture vote; or the 253 days that go from the elections of April 28, 2019 to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, after the elections of November 10 of that year, after the second dissolution of the chambers operated by agreement with what is provided for in article 99.5 of the Constitution (the rule of dissolution after two months). Although we now at least know that the Government must submit to control, an extreme that was the subject of a tense constitutional controversy provoked by an executive of the PP and that was resolved by the Constitutional Court (TC) in a judgment of November 2018.

On the other hand, let’s not forget that, despite being infrequent, in Spain there have recently been three failed investitures: Pedro Sánchez (March 4, 2016), Mariano Rajoy (September 2, 2016), and once again Pedro Sánchez ( July 27, 2019). There have been dissolutions after two months since the first failed vote, for example the one that took place on May 3, 2015, which ended the short-lived XI legislature, and the one on September 24, 2019 , which concluded the also very short XIII legislature, which includes the period from May 21, 2019 to September 24, 2019). Therefore, the Courts were dissolved because no candidate obtained sufficient confidence from the majority of the Parliament. But all this was preceded by the proliferation of rounds of consultations by the King, by the unexpected resignation of the party leader with the most votes (Mariano Rajoy), or even by the acceptance of the next candidate in terms of votes, without possibilities of being invested, as a candidate instrumental in starting the countdown of the two months and precipitating a new electoral call (Pedro Sánchez in February 2016).

This forced formula of the instrumental candidate is relevant, because in this case it was not necessary to resort to the doctrine of the equivalent act of the Council of State, which was once applied in Madrid or Catalonia, so that the presidency of the Congress noted, after consulting with the King, that it was not possible to propose a candidate with real chances of obtaining the investiture and start counting the two-month dissolution term without the need for debate. Not surprisingly, as the TC has repeatedly said, the Constitution is inspired by a principle of rationalization that has as one of its primary objectives to prevent prolonged government crises and promote the stability of the executive.

In short, there are three investiture scenarios that, with a greater or lesser degree of realism, can be opened to avoid blocking or excessive delay in the formation of the government: first, for the King to propose a candidate if he finds that one of ‘they are able to gather the necessary majority to be invested; second, that the Head of State ascertain that it is not possible for any candidate to gather the necessary support and, in agreement with one of them, propose him as an instrumental candidate to start the two-month clock for the dissolution, counting from the first failed vote, and third, that the King does not propose any viable candidate and that the presidency of Congress, in agreement with him, resolves that this is not possible and that, in a manner equivalent to a negative vote, allow the calculation of the two months for the dissolution to begin.