The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, promised his position this Friday before the King this morning after he was sworn in yesterday by the Congress of Deputies with 179 votes in favor and 171 against. It is the third time that Sánchez has promised this position since he took the position in 2018 after winning the first motion of censure in Spanish democracy.
The Audience Hall of the Zarzuela Palace was the scene of the promise in a brief ceremony – approximately two minutes – witnessed by representatives of the main State institutions. The head of the Ministry of Justice, Pilar Llop, as chief notary of the Kingdom, and authorities such as the presidents of the Congress and the Senate, Francina Armengol and Pedro Rollán, respectively, were present; the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, and the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte.
In recent weeks, precisely the Judiciary has been upset with the agreement between PSOE and Junts on the amnesty law and its references to the “political persecution of the courts” of the independence movement.
After reading the royal decree of appointment signed by the monarch, and published today in the Official State Gazette (BOE), Sánchez has read the text of the inauguration with his right hand resting on a copy of the Constitution opened by its article 99, and without the presence of religious symbols.
“I promise, out of my conscience and honor, to faithfully fulfill the obligations of the position of President of the Government, with loyalty to the King, and to keep and ensure the preservation of the Constitution as a fundamental norm of the State, as well as to maintain the secrecy of the deliberations of the Council of Ministers,” he recited. In keeping with the times, Sánchez has published the moment of the promise on his social networks.
Once the inauguration is completed, Sánchez must begin to appoint the new ministers of his cabinet in which PSOE and Sumar, the party led by Yolanda Díaz, participate. Both hope to close the names this Friday and the objective is to configure a smaller executive with a more political profile to resist a legislature that is expected to be harsh. The appointment of the ministers will be announced throughout the day tomorrow with the expectation that on Monday they will take possession of their portfolios and, on Tuesday, hold the first Council of Ministers of the new mandate.
