It is a protocol meeting that takes place every time the Cortes is opened. After Armengol’s visit, Pedro Rollán, president of the Senate, came to inform the Monarch of the composition of both chambers before the king’s round of consultations with the spokesmen of the different parties in order to propose a candidate for the investiture for the one for which there is no date but that could even be held next week, report Efe and Europa Press.
On this occasion, the round of consultations is atypical because two candidates who aspire to ask for the confidence of Parliament: Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as the winner of the July 23 elections, and the socialist Pedro Sánchez, who sees himself capable of adding enough votes to outvote.
Article 99 of the Constitution, which contemplates the functioning of the Spanish constitutional Monarchy, establishes that “after each renewal of the Congress of Deputies, the King, after consulting with the representatives designated by the political groups with parliamentary representation, and through the President of Congress, will propose a candidate for the Presidency of the Government”.
It does not mean that the winner of the elections should be a candidate, but rather that the person who achieves the confidence of Congress will be sworn in as president, in a first vote with an absolute majority or in a second with more votes in favor than against: the King proposes who will submit to the investiture debate and Congress elects the new Prime Minister.
Until now, the decision was simple and there was only one candidate on the table, the one with the most votes in the elections, and another thing is that later his candidacy prospered or not in Congress. Only once did the winner of the elections communicate to the head of state that he was renouncing to be a candidate considering that he did not have enough votes: Mariano Rajoy in January 2016, which forced Felipe VI to organize a second round of consultations and end up giving the opportunity to whoever came second, Pedro Sánchez, who failed to be sworn in.
On this occasion, both the winner of the elections, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and Pedro Sánchez, who claims to have options to overcome the investiture vote due to having sufficient support, have legitimate aspirations and have shown themselves willing to try to assume the task.
The PP claims that Feijóo has secured the vote of 171 deputies (PP, Vox and UPN) with the option of also adding to that of the Canary Islands Coalition, which gives it an advantage of 50 seats over the PSOE, to which is added that it does not all the parties of the Sumar coalition take their support for the socialist candidate for granted, nor do the independentistas of ERC and Junts, nor the nationalists of the PNV and the BNG.
In this framework, Pedro Sánchez for his part considered the PP and Vox tandem “failed”, calling the PP’s calculations “magical cabals” and yesterday after the PP only managed to gather 139 votes for its candidate for the Presidency of Congress , the PSOE, Sumar and other minority formations have terminated any option for Feijóo. Yesterday Vox did not support the candidacy of Cuca Gamarra because the PP did not want to give them a position in the vice presidency of the Table that they were demanding and Armengol took over the Presidency of the Chamber by 178 votes – all the votes of Congress except those of PP, UPN and the deputy of the Canarian Coalition-, although today Vox has once again reaffirmed its support for an investiture by Feijóo.
Armengol pointed out in an interview with TVE before going to Zarzuela that the “great majority” that has allowed for this legislature a progressive Board in the Lower House “undoubtedly marks a path” for the investiture. “It’s obvious,” he said. However, proposing a candidate corresponds to the monarch, she has reminded her, which she will later endorse.
Once Armengol informs Felipe VI of the composition of Congress for this XV Legislature, the head of state will be able to organize his round of consultations to find out who each party plans to vote for. But on this occasion at least three of Pedro Sánchez’s hypothetical partners do not intend to go to the meeting and, therefore, will not directly inform the King of their intentions: ERC, Junts and Bildu, who do not recognize political authority to the head of state, especially after his speech after the 1-0.
After the visit to Felipe VI, Armengol has convened at 12:30 p.m. the new Congress Table to begin to form the parliamentary groups for which a period of five business days now opens. Parties with more than 15 seats or those that, with a minimum of 5, exceed 5% of the votes in all of Spain or 15 in the constituencies in which they have concurred, can be constituted as a group.
For the first of the requirements – more than 15 deputies – the PP, PSOE, Vox and Sumar have a guaranteed group in this new legislature, while for the second – a minimum of 5 and more than 5% where they have been presented – EH Bildu and PNV.
In principle, neither ERC nor Junts meet the requirements because, although they have more than five deputies, they do not reach the 15 percent required in some of the constituencies in which they have concurred in Catalonia.
However, the new Congress Table, in which the left has a majority thanks precisely to the votes of ERC and Junts, is sovereign to interpret the regulations and allow the formation of parliamentary groups that do not meet any of the minimum requirements and thus these deputies do not have to join the mixed group.