After Pedro Sánchez's speech yesterday, the result was to be expected: the candidate for Spanish prime minister has lost the first round investiture vote, falling far short of the absolute majority necessary. Unidas Podemos in the end abstained; Catalan pro-independence parties voted against. Now, if he wants to form a government, he'll have to rebuild the bridges broken with Pablo Iglesias. He's got 48 hours, until midday on Thursday, when he'll face a second round of voting in which he'll just need more votes in favour than against.
Today he needed an absolute majority, in other words the support of over half the chamber, which would mean 176 votes in favour. In the end, however, he only got 124: 123 from his own party PSOE and the one from the Partido Regionalista de Cantabria. Votes against were 170: PP, Ciudadanos, Vox, ERC, JxCat, Navarra Suma and Coalición Canaria. That means that, for the moment, he's a long way from getting even that simple majority on Thursday. There were also 52 abstentions today: Unidas Podemos, EAJ, EH Bildu and Compromís.
There was one notable vote at odds with their party. Podemos' Irene Montero, whose name had been suggested as a candidate for a senior role in a coalition cabinet and the partner of party leader Pablo Iglesias, voted "no" instead of abstaining. She had communicated her vote to Congress officials before the party had taken its final decision. In the end though, Unidas Podemos decided to abstain today, "as another gesture to continue facilitating negotiations, as we've been doing for two months with our continuous cessions". Sources close to Iglesias warn that "time is running out and PSOE has to make a move".
For their part, the Catalan pro-independence parties said their decision to vote against Sánchez was based on his remarks in the Congress during the debate. JxCat announced its "no" this Monday; ERC waited until today. "There is nothing to block because there's no agreement", sources from the latter party say.
48 hours
Two things marked the investiture debate this Monday and Tuesday. Firstly, Pedro Sánchez's rhetoric, scared the possible allies he made minimal references to. Secondly, his quarrel with Pablo Iglesias, serious enough to shift positions that appeared already set. The leader of Unidas Podemos warned that, if he isn't invested this week and Spain heads to a new general election, Sánchez will never against be prime minister.
They now have 48 hours until Thursday's second round to gather back round the negotiation table. The candidate has already called an emergency meeting of his party's executive committee for this Wednesday morning to analyse the situation. Both PSOE and Podemos say they have reached out their hands to the other, but neither party has yet sat back down to negotiate.
The main stumbling block remains the division of briefs in a potential coalition cabinet. Unidas Podemos say they've only been offered decorative roles, for example for Montero to be a deputy prime minister but with a portfolio "devoid of contents". On the other hand, PSOE say they are "very respectfully making a very important offer for politics to the figures who represent [Podemos's] political project".