The PP put an end to 24 hours of silence yesterday behind the center to the area that the secretary general of the Canary Islands Coalition, Fernando Clavijo, served the day before in La Vanguardia, by proposing that the PNV preside over the Congress of Deputies. And he did it with a clearly defensive strategy. Opting to let the ball wander through the area instead of going up to finish off the goal pass. A confusing decision a priori, but for which the PP has an explanation.
If the popular had sent the Canarian offer to the bottom of the network, not only would they have weakened the PSOE when it comes to controlling the Lower House, but they would have significantly increased the price of the support of the Basque nationalists in subsequent negotiations.
But in Genoa the threat from the Vox secretary general, Ignacio Garriga, who on Friday warned the PP that it will not be in "any equation in which separatism is present" still resonates, so that any flirting with nationalist parties would automatically annul the 33 extra support from Vox that the PP has been exhibiting for days to boast a total of 171 votes in favor. A level from which the popular ones intend to tie the votes of the Congress table to, then, try to reach the summit in the Presidency of the Government given that, adding the deputies obtained on 23-J by the popular ones (137), Vox (33 ) and UPN (1), the conservative bloc is only five votes away from a hypothetical investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
But there the thing does not stop. Because those 171 seats –172 in case of gaining the support of the Canary Islands Coalition (CC)– also allow the PP to fatten its story of the “party that won the elections” by raising the number of deputies to 50, which distances it from the PSOE alone.
And it is not the same to lose the election of the Table with 171 or 172 votes, than with 137. Especially if in the end Sumar votes as a block with the PSOE, giving Sánchez a floor of 152 deputies while waiting for other allies. Showing less support than the left-wing block before the round of consultations with the King would complicate the appointment of Feijóo as a candidate for an investiture.
For all these reasons, the PP has chosen to discard any other calculation and focus on tying the block with Vox. In other words, Feijóo had the option of exploring the path of the PNV – and even of Junts, as his deputy secretary for Autonomous Coordination, Pedro Rollán, put forward – but that approach would complicate an entente with Vox in the first big vote on Thursday. Genoa is pragmatic.
Thursday's vote is devilish and any block can win. In fact, the fact that the PP is satisfied with 171 supports does not guarantee a majority for the PSOE and its allies. There are even options that an unprecedented scenario could occur. With the votes of Sumar, ERC, Bildu, PNV and BNG, the Socialists would also reach 171 supports. Everything would remain in the hands of Junts and CC. The regulation of the Congress contemplates in its article 37 that if in the election of the Table there is a tie between the two deputies with the most votes "successive votes will be held between the equalized candidates until the tie is settled".
Pedro Sánchez arrived at Moncloa yesterday afternoon after his holidays in Morocco and Lanzarote; he will already supervise the negotiations from Madrid. The Socialists want to retain the Presidency of Congress, despite the CC plan. The acting first vice president, Nadia Calviño, said that the third authority of the State should be for "a person from the PSOE." The Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, took a position along the same lines. Ferraz's spokeswoman also rejected the term "auction" used by Puigdemont.
Potential PSOE allies also prefer a Socialist Congressional Presidency. Sumar's parliamentary spokeswoman, Marta Lois, asked, yes, that the Table have the "proportionality" of the chamber, just like Podemos, which yesterday broke into the negotiations of the Table, demanding reforms in the chamber regulations to promote the co-official languages or put a maximum limit on the processing of laws. EH Bildu, for his part, took his votes for the PSOE at the Table for granted; and the BNG valued the CC proposal as “striking”.
The PNV has chosen not to show its cards until Thursday. Its five deputies will be accredited tomorrow in Congress, but they will not make statements. There are 48 hours left to find out which candidate for the investiture has more foundations to achieve it.
