Junts files amendment demanding that Sánchez call elections in Spain
Junts has filed an amendment for Spain's Congress to demand elections from Sánchez, but it has no legal effect. An analysis of a political maneuver that smells of survival.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Junts demands elections: can Spain's Congress force Sánchez to call them?
Junts has filed an amendment for the Congress to demand that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, call general elections. The initiative, which relies on a motion by the PP, seeks to increase pressure on a government that, according to critics, depends on the independence movement to survive. However, its legal prospects are nil: even if approved, the Constitution does not require the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament at the request of the legislature. It is, in essence, a shot in the dark.
Junts' strategists, aware that Aliança Catalana is eating into their ground from the right, are trying to distance themselves from the government they have propped up for years. After voting with the PSOE on key issues —budgets, labor laws, renewal of the CGPJ (Spain's judicial governing body)— they now stage a break-up that the pro-independence electorate greets with skepticism. Polls show a flight of votes toward Sílvia Orriols' party, and the amendment smells more of electoral survival than democratic conviction.
The trap is twofold. On the one hand, the motion is not binding: Sánchez could ignore it without consequences. On the other, Sánchez's own investiture rests on the votes of Junts and ERC, so forcing an election would be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Meanwhile, the government continues negotiating Catalonia's unique financing arrangement —the real price of their support— and anything that is not mandatory, as government sources point out, simply slides off them.
In short: the amendment is pure institutional makeup. Junts needs to look tough on Sánchez to avoid losing more votes, but in practice it knows its political survival is tied to that of this government. Until Catalonia's financing deal is closed, there will be no real movement. The Congress will debate, vote and, predictably, it will all come to nothing. The ironies of politics: the very people propping up the government are demanding it go.
Related discussions in the forum
Junts has filed an amendment for the Congress to demand that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, call general elections. The initiative, which relies on a motion by the PP, seeks to increase pressure on a government that, according to critics, depends on the independence movement to survive. However, its legal prospects are nil: even if approved, the Constitution does not require the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament at the request of the legislature. It is, in essence, a shot in the dark.
Junts' strategists, aware that Aliança Catalana is eating into their ground from the right, are trying to distance themselves from the government they have propped up for years. After voting with the PSOE on key issues —budgets, labor laws, renewal of the CGPJ (Spain's judicial governing body)— they now stage a break-up that the pro-independence electorate greets with skepticism. Polls show a flight of votes toward Sílvia Orriols' party, and the amendment smells more of electoral survival than democratic conviction.
The trap is twofold. On the one hand, the motion is not binding: Sánchez could ignore it without consequences. On the other, Sánchez's own investiture rests on the votes of Junts and ERC, so forcing an election would be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Meanwhile, the government continues negotiating Catalonia's unique financing arrangement —the real price of their support— and anything that is not mandatory, as government sources point out, simply slides off them.
In short: the amendment is pure institutional makeup. Junts needs to look tough on Sánchez to avoid losing more votes, but in practice it knows its political survival is tied to that of this government. Until Catalonia's financing deal is closed, there will be no real movement. The Congress will debate, vote and, predictably, it will all come to nothing. The ironies of politics: the very people propping up the government are demanding it go.
Related discussions in the forum
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- Feijóo pressures Junts and PNV to back a motion aimed solely at triggering elections. · 25 replies
- PNV now shelves early elections and gives Sánchez breathing room. · 38 replies
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (21 replies).
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