MADRID (AP) — The leader of Spain’s conservatives will try to convince lawmakers on Tuesday to let him form the country’s new government, ahead of two rounds of voting later this week in Parliament that he is expected to lose.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo's Popular Party won the most seats after the inconclusive July 23 national elections that left all parties well shy of an absolute majority in the 350-seat lower chamber, setting the stage for a difficult path to power.
Under the Spanish constitution, he faces two investiture votes that will determine whether he can form a government — likely a coalition with the far-right Vox party. He needs a simple majority of 176 votes in the first vote on Wednesday, after hours of debate.
If he misses that mark, the bar would be lowered on Friday in the second round, where he will need only more “yes” than “no” votes, opening the possibility for abstentions to sway the result.
The Popular Party’s 137 seats are the most held by any party. But even with the 33 votes of Vox, and two more from small, conservative parties from Navarra and the Canary Islands, it is still four votes short.
If Feijóo fails to get approved, then acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would get his shot to stay in the Moncloa Palace if the center-left Socialist leader can round up enough support of lawmakers from a group of competing leftist, regionalist and even separatist parties.
Besides convincing rival parties from the Basque Country, Sánchez would also need to woo separatist parties from northeastern Catalonia which, in exchange for their support, are demanding an amnesty for hundreds, possibly thousands of people involved in a failed 2017 secession bid and the protests against Spain's resulting crackdown.
Feijóo is trying to use the opposition to the possibly amnesty to boost his scant chances this week. The 62-year-old leader held a rally in Madrid on Sunday that drew 40,000 people, according to authorities.
A failure by Feijóo to form a government would automatically start a two-month period in which Sánchez will try to form a government. If he also fails, then Parliament would be dissolved on Nov. 27 and new elections would be called for Jan. 14.
