No less painful is the expected defeat, and that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in his intention to be president of the government is. The popular candidate left his comfortable position in Galicia a year and a half ago, where he had shortly before revalidated his fourth absolute majority, to be president of the government, and although he is still awaiting the second vote tomorrow, he has failed in his attempt to reach to Moncloa.
The worst thing for the president of the PP in yesterday's debate that preceded this defeat was hearing, to his face and in public, the "resounding no" from the party that at some point he believed could be his ally, the PNV. And with the phrase that could have hurt the most: “Between amnesty and Feijóo”, a dilemma that the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, raised on the eve of the debate, “well, amnesty,” said the nationalist spokesperson, Aitor Esteban.
Defeat yes, but in the PP they are not going to lick their wounds. They already lamented on July 23, with the unexpected result that made them winners of the elections, but did not allow them to govern due to parliamentary arithmetic and lack of support. The popular ones have digested this bad drink, and Feijóo has been able to see at the investiture the unity of the party around his leadership.
The PP applauds the way in which the popular leader ended his speech yesterday before the vote: “I will come out with my principles and those of 11 million voters. I will go out with my word and that of 11 million voters. I will leave with my political and personal integrity intact: freedom, equality and dignity,” concluded the popular leader.
In Genoa they believe that with the debate Feijóo has shown his people, but also his voters, that he can be president of the government and that he has a solid program that he was able to outline on Tuesday in the first session. They also highlight that he is a good parliamentarian, capable of standing up to any spokesperson, as he did yesterday with Bildu's. “I already know that he knows us well, they have had many colleagues from the PP in their sights,” he reminded Mertxe Aizpurua in reference to the past of the nationalist party and its connection with ETA. He even thanked them for voting against his investiture: “What Bildu says has no value for me if it is not preceded by the condemnation of terrorism.” And he added, “I leave Bildu's votes to Mr. Sánchez.”
Feijóo will have to wait until tomorrow for his defeat to be definitive and then between one and two months in which it will be seen if Sánchez can assemble a majority to re-issue the presidency of the government or, on the contrary, new elections will have to be called. A few weeks in which the leader of the PP will only have one objective, to put Sánchez on the ropes.
He was unable to do so on Tuesday, given the decision of the acting president not to respond to the candidate, as is customary, and that not even the parliamentary spokesperson, Patxi López, did so. The PP leadership attributes this to López being elected lehendakari thanks to the votes of the PP in 2009, despite the fact that the PSOE had not won the elections. In those Basque elections, the PNV obtained five more seats, and it would have been difficult for the socialist spokesperson to explain why the PP's support was valid then, and now he condemned it to ostracism.
But even Feijóo took advantage of Sánchez's silence. In his last intervention, the popular candidate seemed satisfied with the debate. “We have all portrayed ourselves, with our words and our silences,” in clear reference to Sánchez. And he stressed why in his opinion the acting president did not intervene: “he did not take the stand because he could not defend what he defended just two months ago in front of all Spaniards.”
The leader of the PP began yesterday to demonstrate to the PSOE his plans until Sánchez's inauguration or until the electoral repetition. The intention is to reproach him for the possibility of amnesty to those responsible for the process, starting with Carles Puigdemont. Until the acting president uncovers his letters, he will do nothing but assume, given his silence and what his possible partners from Sumar, ERC and Junts say, that he plans to grant the amnesty. If this initiative finally comes to fruition, Feijóo will reaffirm to the current acting president that the PP is against the pardon measure for violating the principles of the Constitution. A pressure that will not only be exerted on Sánchez, but also on the socialist leaders who are against, among them, the Castilian-La Mancha president, Emiliano García-Page, to remind him that words are not enough, that we must be consistent with the facts.
