Sánchez's presidential hopes pinned on Thursday as...
Tuesday, July 23, 2019 @ 10:43 PM
PEDRO Sánchez has failed in the first round of the investiture ceremony and will now have to work hard to persuade his non-supporters to back him in round two, on Thursday.
In the first leg of a presidential investiture, a candidate needs a majority of 'yes' votes from MPs to succeed, and if this fails, a second session will require simply more 'yes' than 'no' votes.
To this end, parties not in favour of a given candidate due to clashing values, but who consider it important for a reigning government to be formed, can abstain from voting, which may help in the second round as it will cut down the number of 'no' votes and potentially lead to the number of 'yes' votes exceeding them.
Sánchez's negotiations with left-wing Podemos, which have so far not borne fruit, and the ongoing issue of Catalunya's independence bid were the main stumbling blocks to the PSOE leader's being sworn in as national president.
Podemos, left-wing regional party in Valencia, Compromís and Basque parties PNV and EH-Bildu abstained, with the latter two insisting on better financing and support for their region before they gave a 'yes' and the other two criticising the failed negotiations between the PSOE and Podemos.
Both parties said they were still open to talks aimed at forming a successful coalition, and Sánchez appears to have buried his idea of governing in a minority and has expressed his desire to reach a deal with Podemos, but refused to answer Compromís' questions about which ministries he is prepared to allow Podemos to take charge of, stressing that the state of the talks could not be made public at present.
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