PP officials believe that Feijóo should go to the investiture even if it is unsuccessful but others reject it: "It is a wear and tear"

In the PP they agree that it is necessary to avoid what Arrimadas did in 2018, who gave up talking with the groups and going to the investiture

MADRID, 25 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

PP leaders consulted by Europa Press consider that Alberto Núñez Feijóo should appear at the investiture even if he does not have sufficient support and is unsuccessful. However, other voices in the party disagree and believe that, if the vote is to be lost, the image that remains in the retina is that he is not going to be president, something that, they allege, implies "a lot of wear and tear."

After the elections on Sunday, in which the PP obtained 136 seats, Feijóo has defended that it is his "duty" and his "responsibility" to lead the talks to try to form a government. And with that objective, he reported this Monday before the Board of Directors of the PP that he has opened contacts with PNV, UPN, Vox and Coalición Canaria.

However, the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, telephoned Feijóo last night to convey his refusal to start talks to facilitate his investiture as president of the Government, a decision agreed in the Executive of the nationalist formation. CC has also refused to support a "phantom investiture" of the PP leader, alleging that "there is no possibility that he is president."

Despite these first statements, and when expressly asked about the rejection of the PNV, Feijóo has downplayed the vetoes. "I think that saying that you do not have support simply because you have spoken to a group seems like a hasty conclusion to me," he assured in Santiago, after participating in the events on the occasion of the feast of Santiago Apóstol.

In the ranks of the PP they have indicated that only two days have passed after the elections and that many things can happen in the coming weeks. "Everyone asserts their votes and is made to beg. Everything in its own time," summed up a PP candidate in the May 28 elections, which has made the PNV ugly that it is not even willing to sit down with Feijóo.

Most of the positions consulted have agreed that Feijóo must appear for the investiture, even if he does not have enough votes to prosper. "I think he should appear even if he fails," an autonomous president has indicated privately. "He has a duty to go even though it may not suit him," added another territorial charge.

"Even though he does not have 100% support, he will go. That is what I interpret from his words on the Board of Directors," confessed one of those present at the meeting on Monday. At the end of that meeting, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, publicly defended that he stand for that investiture even if it is unsuccessful.

In the ranks of the PP they agree that we must avoid the example of the former president of Cs, Inés Arrimadas, who won the Catalan elections held in December 2017 -they were called by Mariano Rajoy as a result of the application of article 155 of the Constitution-, but he renounced opening a dialogue process and appearing for the investiture claiming that he did not have support in the Catalan Parliament.

In addition, other sources of the PP have recalled that with this investiture the term begins, given that if in two months, from the first vote, no candidate has achieved the confidence of Congress, the King will dissolve the Cortes and call new general elections.

However, other members of the PP do not agree that Feijóo should go to the investiture if he does not have sufficient support to be sworn in as Prime Minister, especially after the slam of the door that the PNV and CC have given in the last few hours.

"I would not go because 'no' wears out a lot", a veteran 'popular' leader has declared in private, who has admitted that his thesis is now in a minority within the PP but believes that with the passing of days that perception will change. "The photo that will remain is that he has lost the vote and it may seem that he is no longer going to be president," added another.

According to these sources, Feijóo must try to make visible that he has the initiative in the round of contacts but he does not have to go to the investiture debate later. "It is about finding a middle ground, between Arrimadas and Rajoy," recalled one of those consulted, alluding to the decision of the then PP candidate to decline the King's offer to form a government, after the December 2015 general elections.

Mariano Rajoy then justified his rejection by arguing that he did not have sufficient support to submit to the investiture and that he was not going to lend himself to start counting the terms set by the Constitution.

In any case, PP sources have warned that it is the King who, after consulting with the representatives of the political groups present in Parliament, and through the president of Congress, proposes a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. And it will be necessary to see if he proposes Feijóo or not, in case of not having support. "If he proposes it, he will go," said a "popular" parliamentarian.