The nerves within PSOE ahead of the 7th January investiture vote are clear. Unlike today, when he would have needed an absolute majority, on Tuesday Pedro Sánchez could return as prime minister with only a simple majority in the Congress.
The arithmetic, however, is tight. Currently, Sánchez has 167 votes in favour, with 165 against and 18 abstentions. As such, he can afford to lose almost none for any reason, be it illness, a delayed flight or train or a traffic jam.
As such, PSOE, through Rafael Simancas, has sent a text message to each of its delegates to urge them to spend the night of this Monday, 6th January, in Madrid, to allay worries of possible absences. That is despite it being a public holiday in Spain for Three Kings Day.
Simancas, the leader of the party's group in the Congress, according to The Huffington Post, is even keeping tabs on "the flight or train number in which each delegate will come to vote" and making sure they don't give "excuses that it's Kings or 'I've got kids'".
There is also concern in party ranks over the "pressures" on certain members to follow the example of Ana Oramas (Coalición Canarias) and change their vote to avoid a government arithmetically dependent on the agreed abstentions of Catalan and Basque independence supporters.