Spanish King to consult the parties again amid investiture deadlock

Barcelona (CNA).- Philip VI announced a new round of meetings with the main Spanish parties to take place on the 25^th and 26^th of April. The aim is to explore if any of the candidates could obtain the necessary support to be invested as new Spanish President, a position which has been held by acting President Mariano Rajoy since the General Elections on the 20^th of December 2015. Otherwise, the Royal Household will dissolute both chambers, the Spanish Parliament and the Senate, and call for new elections. The Spanish King’s decision comes after the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and ‘Podemos’ failed to agree to form an alternative government to that current ruling in Spain, composed by the conservative People’s Party (PP). Pro-independence left wing ERC have already refused the Spanish King’s invitation while the other pro-independence party in the Spanish Parliament, ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’, urged PSOE and ‘Podemos’ to set their differences aside and reach an agreement.

Spain’s government is still temporary, since none of the main parties have agreed to form government after the 20^th of December elections. After PSOE’s leader, Pedro Sánchez, was rejected in both of the investiture debates and failed to reach a triple agreement with ‘Ciutadans’ and ‘Podemos’, Spanish King Philip VI announced a new chance to keep on negotiating. Thus, a new round of meetings will start on the 25^th and 26^th of April in order to check if any of the candidates could obtain the necessary support to be invested as President. Philip VI would have to choose a candidate to form new government by the 27^th of April. Otherwise, the Royal Household will “procced to the dissolution of both chambers”, the Spanish Parliament and the Senate, “and call for new elections within the terms established by the Spanish Constitution and with the consent of the President of the Spanish Parliament”.

ERC’s Gabriel Rufián has already announced that, similar to what they did on the two previous occasions, the left wing pro-independence party won’t respond to the King’s call. “Our office’s door is open to everybody, including Philip VI, but we only ask him to respect the Catalan institutions, the Parliament’s President, the Catalan President and, in conclusion, the democratic mandate we have”, stated Rufián.

For his part, ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’s Francesc Homs urged PSOE and ‘Podemos’ to “stop looking askance at each other”, “leave the personal issues aside” and agree to form a new government of change which would mean the end of Rajoy’s era. Homs insisted that his party sees the referendum in Catalonia as a condition sine qua non for supporting this alliance.

Alternative left coalition ‘En Comú Podem’, the Catalan branch of Podemos, warned PSOE that “time is running out” and urged PSOE to reach an agreement with ‘Podemos’, as the citizens “can’t stand the current scenario any more”.

Catalan parties disagree on how to run for potential new elections

If none of the candidates achieves the necessary support to be invested as President, the Spanish King will proceed to dissolve the Chambers and call for new elections, which may take place on the 26^th of July.

Regarding the possibility of holding new elections, the Catalan pro-independence parties in the Spanish Parliament have different opinions. “If there are elections, which is not my wish, I think that Catalans should make the most of putting out the ballot boxes”, stated Homs. In this vein, he considers “the best formula” to be a “candidature similar to that which ran for the 27-S Catalan Elections”. On that occasion, former Catalan governing party, CDC, and ERC gathered together and constituted the cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, together with other independent members. “This is the formula which gives us a greater guarantee of obtaining good results”.

However, ERC are not that sure of this formula. “Ideological diversity gets better results”, stated Rufián. “It is more powerful” to have “two groups in the Spanish Parliament which defend the Catalan process from different ideological positions”.