"I assume the results in first person," Pedro Sánchez announced in a fleeting appearance this Monday at Moncloa, after assuming as his own and non-transferable the socialist electoral debacle that certified the municipal and regional elections this Sunday. The President of the Government has revealed that, after informing the Head of State, he will meet this afternoon with the Council of Ministers to dissolve the Parliament and call general elections, using his exclusive prerogative, for next Sunday, July 23. In just two months.
The PSOE leadership of Pedro Sánchez assumed on his fateful electoral night on Sunday that he had understood the harsh message expressed by the citizens at the 28-M polls. And this Monday, the President of the Government has appeared in the Moncloa to put an end to this legislature.
"I have made this decision in view of the results of the elections held yesterday," Sánchez has justified. "The first consequence that these results will have will be that magnificent regional presidents and socialist mayors will be displaced with impeccable management, and this despite the fact that many of them have seen their support increase yesterday," he pointed out. Among the regional presidents of the PSOE who have fallen are Ximo Puig from Valencia, Guillermo Fernández Vara from Extremadura, Javier Lambán from Aragon, Francina Armengol from the Balearic Islands or Concha Andreu from La Rioja. The socialist defeat has no palliatives.
The second consequence of Sunday's elections, Sánchez continued, is that numerous institutions will be governed by new majorities made up of the Popular Party and Vox. "Although yesterday's votes had a municipal and regional scope, the meaning of the vote conveys a message that goes further," he admitted. "For this reason, as President of the Government and as Secretary General of the PSOE, I accept the results firsthand and I believe it is necessary to give an answer and submit our democratic mandate to the will of the people", he pointed out.
Sánchez has highlighted, in any case, that Spain "is about to overcome" a stage of crisis derived from the emergency of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “We are facing a clear path of growth, job creation and social cohesion. And at this point in the legislature, the Government has carried out the major reforms committed to in the investiture speech, in the Government program and also in our agreement with the European Commission ”, he stressed.
But he also recalled that Spain will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, "a very important responsibility in this geopolitical context."
"All these reasons advise a clarification about the will of the Spanish people about the policies that the Government must apply and about the political forces that must lead this phase," he warned. And to clarify what the will of the citizens is, and "solve these doubts", she has assured that there is only one "infallible" method: democracy. "Consequently, the best thing is for the Spanish to take the floor and speak out without delay to define the political course of the country," Sánchez concluded.
