87.13% of the PSOE militancy has expressed itself in favor of the government and investiture agreements of Pedro Sánchez, in the consultation with socialist members that ended this Saturday. 11.93% voted against. With 92% of the scrutiny carried out, participation was 63.4%.
For its part, 85.4% of the PSC membership has ratified the agreement to form a new coalition government in Spain. Up to 7,909 PSC militants have participated in the vote, which represents 61.6% of the members of this formation. 85.4% of them voted in favor of the pact, while 12.2% voted against it. 2.4% of the votes were blank, and 0.2% were declared invalid.
Socialist militancy, as Pedro Sánchez celebrated last Saturday before the federal committee of the PSOE, “never fails when asked to take a step forward.” With this conviction, and after defending the amnesty for those accused of the process to complete the “total reunion” of Catalonia, and at the same time being able to win his re-election as President of the Government, the leader of the PSOE claimed the support of the socialist affiliates in the consultation on their government and investiture agreements. And, although they are not all closed yet, he already predicted then a “very important support” from the socialist bases in the face of the dilemma posed.
And so it has been.
Up to 172,600 militants of the PSOE, the PSC and the youth of both formations had the right to vote in this consultation, which took place electronically from last Monday to this Friday, and this Saturday in person at the headquarters of the socialist groups. until 8 p.m. pm.
The question posed, however, required both support for the coalition government program signed with Sumar, as well as the rest of the agreements necessary for Sánchez's investiture. “Do you support the agreement to form a government with Sumar and obtain the support of other political formations to achieve the necessary majority?” asked the question to the militancy.
A trick question, in the opinion of the territorial leaders and leaders of the PSOE who categorically reject an amnesty law, despite the fact that they still do not know the content of this future legislative initiative. But the question was formulated this way, precisely, so that the members did not have to expressly express themselves regarding the amnesty, since this initiative has not yet been agreed upon.
If Sánchez's forecasts had been met, however, the members could have known the content of the organic amnesty law since last Thursday, since the plan of the acting president of the Government was that it would have been registered in Congress that day. of the Deputies. But Carles Puigdemont maintains the legislative proposal still in negotiation with the PSOE.
For now, Sánchez has signed with Sumar, the group led by Yolanda Díaz, the program for a new coalition government. And he has also already sealed an investiture agreement with Esquerra Republicana. Therefore, the pacts with Junts, EH Bildu - which has already stated that it will support the investiture -, with the PNV, with the BNG - with which a pre-agreement has already been reached - and with the Canarian Coalition remain to be closed. All these formations would total 179 votes in favor of Sánchez's investiture.
In Ferraz, there is no evidence, however, that the two socialist territorial leaders who are frontally opposed to the amnesty law, the Castilian-La Mancha Emiliano García-Page and the Aragonese Javier Lambán, have campaigned for the no in this consultation on militancy. , despite the fact that in their federations this initiative is very difficult to digest. On the other hand, other socialist territorial leaders, such as the Andalusian Juan Espadas, the Catalan Salvador Illa or the Valencian Ximo Puig, have carried out a very active campaign in favor of yes in the consultation with members.
The last similar consultation, with which the one that ended this Saturday can be compared, was the one that the PSOE called on November 23, 2019, on the pre-agreement to form a government coalition between Sánchez and the then leader of Podemos, Pablo Churches. On that occasion, participation was 63%, with 103,718 votes cast. And the yes vote swept 95,421 ballots, 92% of the total in the PSOE. There were no votes against, and only a minimal percentage of white and null votes. Support was even higher in the PSC, 93.6%, with 6,007 votes in favor.
On this occasion, the socialist militancy has had last-minute incentives to go vote, in case they needed them, to support Sánchez's course towards the investiture. After José María Aznar called for action, considering the leader of the PSOE “a danger to Spanish constitutional democracy,” the far-right rally at the doors of the party headquarters in Ferraz this past Friday served for some socialist leaders to show What is the “alternative” to a new progressive government. The ultra protest was repeated this Saturday night, this time with Esperanza Aguirre encouraging the protesters to block the street, amidst shouts of “Sánchez to prison.”
