Congress prepares for the second round of Feijóo's investiture, doomed to failure

MADRID, 28 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Congress of Deputies will vote this Friday on the second round of the investiture of the PP candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijoó, a new attempt to reach the Moncloa Palace that, however, is doomed to failure, given the positions announced by political groups.

Article 99 of the Constitution establishes that if the candidate proposed by the King does not achieve an absolute majority in his first attempt, the vote will have to be repeated 48 hours later. Of course, on this occasion there will no longer be an extensive debate of the candidate with the different parliamentary groups, but rather a short session will be held with the times set for all those involved.

As expected, in the first vote, held this Wednesday, Feijóo was not only four votes short of the 176 in which the absolute majority is located, but his candidacy was even defeated by 178 votes compared to 172.

Specifically, Feijóo received the support of 137 votes from the PP, 33 from Vox, one from the Canary Coalition (CC) and another from the Navarro People's Union (UPN), while the PSOE (121), Sumar (31), ERC (7), Junts (7), Bildu (6), PNV (5) and BNG (1) voted against. And everything indicates that on the second attempt the result will be identical.

This second investiture plenary session will start at 12:15 p.m., according to the time proposed by the president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol. And the first to speak will be Feijóo, who will be able to speak for ten minutes, and will no longer be able to establish any 'face to face' with his interlocutors.

Next, it will be the turn of the representatives of the groups from highest to lowest, except for the PP, which will intervene last. Thus, the PSOE will start, which will once again pull the former mayor of Valladolid Óscar Puente. Representatives of Vox, Sumar, ERC, Junts, Bildu, PNV, BNG, CC and UPN will intervene behind, to close with the Popular Group.

After the debates, the vote will be carried out by calling all of your honorable Members who will have to cast their vote out loud from their seats, with the members of the acting Government and those of the Chamber Board being the last to do so. The vote cannot take place before 1:22 p.m. in order to comply with the 48 hours established by the Constitution.

In order to become president in this second attempt, Feijóo needs a simple majority in Congress, that is, adding more yeses than noes, a possibility that seems complicated because it is taken for granted that no one will move from their positions. Therefore, everything suggests that he will once again add 172 yeses compared to 178 noes.

The person in charge of communicating the result of this vote to the King is the president of the Congress, who will travel to the Zarzuela Palace for this purpose.

In the event that, according to all forecasts, the leader of the PP fails in this second round, the Constitution establishes that successive proposals from presidential candidates may be processed until two months have passed since the first vote, that of this Wednesday, December 27. September.

But if in the following two months - no later than November 27 - no candidate obtains the endorsement of the Lower House, the Presidency of Congress will submit to the King's signature the decree of dissolution of both Chambers, will call new elections and He will communicate it to the president of the Senate. According to these deadlines, the new elections would take place on Sunday, January 14.