The former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has responded to the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, that he must wait four years if he wants elections to be called, after in the demonstration organized by his party against the amnesty on Sunday in Madrid he demanded that Pedro Sánchez to give a voice to the Spanish people in new elections.
"Elections have certain causes, every four years, or when the Government loses confidence or when the dissolution (of the Cortes) occurs by the President of the Government. It is not decided by the leader of the opposition," stated the former socialist leader. in an interview on RNE.
Zapatero has assured that he understands that Feijóo is asking for elections even though "they have been recently", ensuring that he has the right to do so, while he has asked for "respect" for the President of the Government when the investiture is confirmed and has recalled that democracy "is expressed in the vote of the citizens."
"In article 6 of the Constitution, political parties are the fundamental channel of political participation and their exercise must be free. And this is reiterated, since it may be that someone should interpret what the article means," he lamented, underlining the importance of deputies not losing the legitimacy that the citizens' vote gives them.
For Zapatero, "it seems incredible" that "we must remember such essential values of democracy", insisting at the same time that the 179 deputies who will vote 'Yes' in the investiture of Pedro Sánchez "represent popular sovereignty" in the same condition as the rest of the deputies.
On the other hand, Zapatero has indicated that "the criticism" of the opposition exercised by the PP "has been in crescendo", a fact that he does not believe is "good for the country as a whole" because he considers "much better" a "debate sedate".
Likewise, he has referred to those who claim that Spain "is on the path to a dictatorship" due to the agreements between PSOE and Junts, as stated by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in the demonstration called by the PP in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
"I hear people say that we are in a dictatorship, and they say it in the central square of Spain," he said ironically, admitting that sometimes he takes it "with sarcasm" but that on other occasions he worries that this speech of delegitimization will "curdle" in part of the Spanish population.
However, he has expressed his belief that Spain will be "better" in one or two years, while predicting that the country "is not going to break up."
