Pedro Sánchez has parked his agenda until next Monday, April 29, to reflect on his political future. “Is all this worth it? Honestly, I don’t know,” the President of the Government asked himself in the surprise letter shared on Wednesday afternoon and addressed to citizens.
After a judge has opened proceedings against Begoña Gómez for alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business, Sánchez, who considers an attack on his wife and himself, is considering resignation, although it is not the only option he has on the table.
The president may decide to continue in office as before or he could submit to a question of confidence to “clear doubts”, as Carles Puigdemont has suggested – he experienced it firsthand in the Parliament in 2016 -. It is a political instrument available to the president of the executive to confront a situation of weakness in the face of the Parliament that elected him and through which the Government asks Congress to support its policy.
The Constitution, in its article 112, establishes that the President of the Government, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, can raise before the Congress of Deputies the question of confidence regarding his program or a declaration of general policy. Confidence will be deemed granted when the simple majority of the Deputies vote in favor of it.
As established by the Congress Regulations, the debate takes place with the same format as the investiture sessions. Confidence is understood to be granted when the vote of the simple majority of the Deputies is obtained.
If Sánchez did not obtain the confidence of Congress, the same thing would happen as if he had resigned and the process to invest a new president would begin, with consultations from the king and a new investiture debate.
Again, and as in the case of failed investitures after general elections, article 172 of the Congress Regulations establishes that if two months pass and no candidate obtains the confidence of Congress, the president of the Chamber will submit it for the King’s signature. the decree dissolving the Cortes Generales and calling elections.
