Spain: Conservative leader Alberto Nunez-Feijoo fails PM bid, paves way for Pedro Sanchez

Spain’s conservative leader Alberto Nunez-Feijoo on Friday (Sep 29) lost his bid to become the country’s next prime minister after failing to secure enough votes, paving the way for outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to remain in office if he strikes a divisive deal with separatist parties in the parliament.

This comes after the leader of the right-wing Popular Party lost the initial parliamentary vote on Wednesday (Sep 27) and a second one on Friday. While Feijoo’s party won the most votes in Spain’s inconclusive July election, 177 lawmakers in the 350-seat house opposed his bid for PM, and 172 supported it.

During the debate on Wednesday, Feijoo had told lawmakers that he knew he would lose the second vote and said, “You can call it failure if you want.” He added, “Today, I won’t be able to give you a government, but I have given you assurance and hope.”

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What happens now?

As expected, Feijoo’s bid to form the next government in Spain failed and now all eyes are on the socialist-led bid to form a government.

In the upcoming week, the outgoing PM will be tasked by King Felipe VI with forming a government and will have to pass an identical vote to stay in office before November 27.

If Sanchez also fails to garner a majority in the parliament, Spain will automatically be forced to hold new elections probably sometime in mid-January.

Sanchez, who has been in power for over five years now, remains optimistic about his return to office backed by the far left along with Basque and Catalan regional parties. However, negotiations are said to be underway for his all-important backing of JxCat, a hardline Catalan separatist party.

What happened before the vote?

Ahead of the vote on Wednesday, at least 40,000 Spaniards and supporters of the opposition conservative party took to the streets of the capital city of Madrid, on Sunday (Sep 24) against Sanchez amid reports that he plans to grant an amnesty to Catalan separatists in a bid to stay in office.

This comes as in exchange for its support, JxCat wants an amnesty for those facing legal action over the failed 2017 Catalan separatist bid, which sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

However, Sanchez who held his own rally on Sunday in Gava near Catalonia’s regional capital Barcelona denied mentions of amnesty but said that the Socialists wanted to heal social divisions over the Catalan crisis.

Notably, in 2021, Sanchez granted pardons to nine separatists jailed over their roles in the independence push. Currently, hundreds of activists are facing legal action over the 2017 failed Catalan separatist bid.

(With inputs from agencies)

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