Felipe VI quotes parties to probe the existence of a candidate for President

USPA NEWS - On Tuesday, December 10, King Felipe VI of Spain will begin the round of mandatory contacts with the spokesmen of the political parties represented in Parliament, to probe if any candidate has the necessary support to be proposed as president of the Government. Nineteen parties, of the 22 that are present in the most fragmented Parliament in the recent history of Spain, will come to meet with the monarch. Only three formations - the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC in its acronym in Catalan), the Catalan ultra-left coalition CUP and the Basque independence coalition EH-Bildu - have refused to meet the monarch, who on Wednesday will decide if he proposes a candidate for the investiture.

Precisely, the Republican Left of Catalonia negotiates these days with the Socialist Party his abstention in the investiture vote, necessary to guarantee the re-election of the socialist candidate, Pedro Sanchez, as Prime Minister of Spain. Sanchez admitted on Friday, during the celebration of the Constitution Day - a national holiday in Spain - that the investiture could be delayed until December 30. However, Spanish political analysts believe that the election of Prime Minister could last until mid-January. They don't even rule out the holding of third elections in spring. And that, because the requirements of ERC border on illegality and are unassumable by a candidate for president of the Government that respects the Constitution.

The Socialist Party and the Republican Left of Catalonia will meet on Tuesday in Barcelona to try to advance their negotiation. The election of Barcelona as the place for that meeting is a gesture of the Socialists towards the Catalan Republicans. At that meeting, they hope to confirm the abstention of ERC so that, on Wednesday, King Felipe VI will propose Pedro Sanchez as a candidate for President of the Government. Last Wednesday, the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, delivered to the monarch the list of spokespersons who will attend the consultations. The last to go to the Zarzuela Palace, headquarters of the Crown, will be Pedro Sanchez. With the favorable vote of the far-left coalition Podemos, which will govern in coalition with the Socialists, if ERC abstains the socialist leader and acting Prime Minister will ensure re-election in office.

Conservative parties criticize the agreement of the Socialists with the extreme left and the Catalan separatists. They affirm that a constitutionalist party cannot negotiate with those who want to break the consensus around the Constitution. And they underline the irregularity of the formation in the Government of Spain that proposes the rupture of the State and the modification of the Constitution, supported by the Catalan and Basque separatist parties. Followers of these parties on Friday burned copies of the Constitution in Barcelona and sent slogans against Spain and against the King.