The two Catalan nationalist parties of the Spanish parliament made the rehabilitation of the leaders convicted of holding the unconstitutional Catalan independence referendum in 2017 a condition for their representatives to participate in the formation of the new Spanish government, even by abstaining.
The demonstration in Madrid took place two days before the lower house of the Spanish Parliament begins the discussion of the Prime Minister candidate program of the PP, which won the July elections.
Alberto Núnez-Feijóo has 172 of the 176 supporting votes needed to be elected prime minister in the legislature. He did not manage to get the missing four representative votes in the last few weeks either. If he does not receive the support of the absolute majority in the Wednesday vote to be held after the debate, and if the second round is not successful two days later, then the ruler can request another candidate for prime minister.
Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, secretary general of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), which finished second in the elections, has already indicated his intention to form a government. However, Alberto Núnez-Feijóo criticized the socialist leader and questioned his moral and political stance for seeking the support of nationalist parties to become prime minister again.
Cover image credit: Daniel Hernanz Ramos via Getty Images
