Spain - Parliamentary Election - 2023 June
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on 29 May 2023 he would dissolve parliament and the country would hold an early general election on July 23 following the results of local elections the previous day. Sánchez called an early general election in a surprise move after his Socialist party took a serious battering in local and regional elections. Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its junior ally Podemos lost ground during the regional elections held on Sunday, while rival conservative People’s Party and far-right party Vox outperformed. Prior to the electoral debacle, Sánchez had insisted that he would ride out his four-year term with leftist government coalition partner United We Can, indicating that an election would be held in December.
The Kingdom of Spain is a parliamentary democracy headed by a constitutional monarch. The country has a bicameral parliament, known as the General Courts or National Assembly, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). The head of the largest political party or coalition in the Congress of Deputies usually is named to head the government as president of the Council of Ministers, the equivalent of prime minister. Observers considered the two national elections held in 2019 to be free and fair.
Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. There were credible reports members of the security forces committed some abuses. Significant human rights issues included: provisions in the penal code that limit freedom of expression and the refoulement of refugees without the opportunity to apply for international protection. The government had mechanisms in place to identify and punish officials who commit human rights abuses or engage in corruption.
Defend the Defenders, a consortium representing multiple nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to protecting freedom of assembly, continued to call on police to end the use of rubber bullets, which they called obsolete technology and responsible for debilitating injuries. Independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views generally without restriction. Reporters without Borders (RSF) stated political polarization and piecemeal legislation threatened the right to information.
The government has an established system for providing protection to refugees. Organizations working with refugees reported a generally well-functioning refugee reception system in the country and improved management of irregular migrant arrivals to the country’s coasts, particularly to the Canary Islands. Irregular land and sea migration decreased by nearly 20 percent during the year compared with the same period in 2021, with 28,926 arrivals as of November 15, according to the data from the Ministry of Interior.
UNHCR continued to report instances of summary returns, denying individuals the opportunity to request international protection, from Ceuta, Melilla, the Chafarinas Islands, and small outposts under Spanish sovereignty, including Peñon de Velez de la Gomera. In September the European Commission opened an infringement proceeding against Spain for failing to comply with EU rules on returning illegally staying third-country nationals by not incorporating EU rules in its national legislation correctly.
The local and regional elections on 28 May 2023 saw Spain taking a major swing to the right and made the leading opposition right wing Popular Party, or PP, the main political force in the country. “This is unexpected,” said Ignacio Jurado, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University. “Sánchez is trying to short circuit the PP’s rise as soon as possible.”
In the municipal vote, the Popular Party, or PP, won 31.5% of votes compared with 28.2% for the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, or PSOE. This was a 1.2 percentage point decrease for PSOE on 2019, but almost a nine point increase for the PP, which benefited from the collapse of the centrist Citizens party. The PP, led by Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, won in seven of the 12 regions contested and dominated in several regions previously won by PSOE including Valencia, Aragon and La Rioja. It remained to be seen how much the PP will be forced to rely on far-right party Vox to form local and regional governments.
Spain’s regional governments have enormous power and budgetary discretion over education, health, housing and policing. Sánchez said that although the elections Sunday were local and regional, the trend in the vote sent a message. “I take full responsibility for the results and I think it is necessary to provide an answer and put our democratic mandate to the people,” he said. The poor showing by both by the Socialists and United We Can was immediately taken as a dire assessment of public feeling towards the ruling left-wing coalition. The new leftist group Sumar, headed by Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, also failed to live up to expectations.
Although the coalition government had shepherded Spain out of the COVID-19 pandemic, made the economy among the fastest growing in the EU and introduced several ground-breaking laws, something was sorely lacking.
Vox, which jointly rules three of Spain's 17 regions with the PP, pledged to roll back laws on gender violence, LGBTQ rights, abortion and euthanasia, as well as a democratic memory law honouring the victims of the dictatorship.
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz had been pushing to rally the left behind her platform Sumar ("Unite"). After days of difficult negotiations, Podemos, which grew out of the anti-austerity "Indignados" protest movement, finally agreed 09 June 2023 to join the coalition, which includes more than a dozen political groupings. The decision was announced shortly before a midnight deadline for parties to register their intention to run as part of a coalition, although they are not required to provide any individual names until June 19.
"This is the broadest agreement ever reached in Spanish democratic history between progressive and ecological forces," said a statement from Sumar. Podemos, once Spain's third largest political force in 2015, entered a coalition government with the Socialists in 2020. But since then, the party's appeal has been much diminished by a string of disputes and controversies, and its support collapsed during the 28 May 2023 local and regional elections.
Sanchez called the snap polls on 29 May after his Socialist party and its far-left junior coalition partners suffered a drubbing in local and regional elections in which the right surged.
Alberto Nunez-Feijoo's right-wing Popular Party (PP) won the 23 July 2023 election, but with less support than expected, meaning he would need the far-right Vox to form a government. Defying polls that for months had written him off as defeated, the Socialist premier managed to curb the gains of the right-wing opposition. With all the votes counted, Feijoo's Popular Party won with 136 of the parliament's 350 seats, while the far-right Vox, its potential ally, won 33, with the pair securing only 169, a far cry from the 176 needed for a governing majority. Sanchez's Socialists came in second with 122, with its radical left Sumar ally securing 31 mandates, giving the left bloc just 153.
With their 153 lawmakers, the Socialists and Sumar will need the support of several regional formations such as the left-wing Catalan separatist ERC party or the pro-independence Basque party EH Bildu, seen as the heir of the now-defunct armed separatist group ETA. But they will also have to negotiate the abstention of the hardline Catalan separatist party JxCat which vowed not to help Sanchez remain in power without something in return. If everything came together, Sanchez could assemble 172 lawmakers behind him, which is more than Feijoo, that would be enough to secure a second parliamentary investiture vote which only requires a simple majority.
Spanish lawmakers on 17 August 2023 elected the Socialist party's candidate for parliamentary speaker following a closely-watched vote that augurs well for Pedro Sanchez's efforts to return as prime minister. The session was widely seen as a trial run ahead of a crucial investiture vote -- which determines who forms the government -- after an inconclusive July election.
Francina Armengol, 52, was named parliamentary speaker -- the third-highest office in Spain after the king and the prime minister -- with an absolute majority of 178 votes in the 350-seat chamber. Her election was secured following a last-minute deal with the hardline Catalan separatist party JxCat, which has been cast in the role of kingmaker. The choice of Armengol was widely seen as a nod to the separatists: between 2015-2023, she was regional leader of the Balearic Islands, where Catalan is widely spoken.
During the July 2023 polls, neither the left nor the right won enough seats to constitute a working majority of 176 mandates -- with each side only able to amass the cross-party support of 171 lawmakers. That put JxCat in an influential position, with the votes cast by its seven lawmakers proving decisive to secure Armengol's election.
In exchange for its support, the Socialists and their radical leftist ally Sumar had agreed to four demands, JxCat said, insisting the deal was "not linked to the investiture vote". JxCat said the agreement involved recognition of Catalan as an official EU language and the use of Catalan in Spain's parliament. It also involved the creation of two inquiry panels into the 2017 Barcelona terror attacks and the use of Pegasus software to spy on Catalan separatists.
For an investiture vote, the bar was set much higher. The separatists wanted an amnesty for anyone pursued by the Spanish justice system over their failed 2017 independence bid and a referendum on self-determination, with JxCat leader Carles Puigdemont demanding solid guarantees before offering support to Spain's next government.
After July's general election produced a splintered parliament consisting of 350 legislators from 11 different parties, coalition-building proved difficult. King Felipe VI of Spain conducted further talks with political party leaders with the aim of establishing a viable coalition government. Attempts by the conservative opposition to form a coalition failed. Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the opposition conservative People's Party (PP), came out narrowly ahead in the election, but his last attempt to form a majority coalition was voted down 177-172 on 29 September 2023. King Felipe was expected to ask current caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the socialist PSOE to form a government that can command the required support of 176 lawmakers in parliament — an endeavor which observers consider more achievable, but still difficult.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had until November 27 to form a viable coalition, after which fresh elections will have to be held on January 14. Spain’s Socialist Party and the hard-left Sumar agreed 24 October 2023 to form a coalition government, a key step in reinstating Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for another term. The agreement announced on Tuesday came a day after Sanchez met Sumar leader and acting Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz.
“This governing deal for a four-year legislative term will allow our country to continue growing in a sustainable manner and with quality employment, developing policies based on social and climate justice while broadening rights, feminist conquests and freedoms,” the two parties said in a joint statement. They added the agreement included plans to reduce youth unemployment, reinforce the public healthcare system, boost public housing, raise emission reduction targets, and a tax reform hitting banks and large energy companies.
Sanchez’s PSOE party, which came second in the general election, needed the support of Sumar’s 33 lower-house lawmakers and other parties, including those that advocate for Catalan and Basque independence, to renew his term. In exchange for its support, the Catalan party JxCat demanded amnesty for politicians and activists facing legal action over their role in Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid.
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was on the brink of securing another term in office after reaching a controversial agreement with the Catalan separatist Junts party by offering amnesty to those who participated in a failed bid for regional independence six years back. Sanchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) has secured the backing of Junts to form a government after elections in July produced no outright winner.
On 09 November 2023, senior PSOE lawmaker Santos Cerdan announced the deal with the party led by Carles Puigdemont, currently living in exile in Belgium for his involvement in secession efforts in 2017. “Six years have passed [since the secession attempt] and the conflict is still unresolved,” Cerdan told a news conference in Brussels. “Our goal is to start a new chapter … where the errors of the past are no longer obstacles to overcome.”
An amnesty could exculpate as many as 1,400 activists and politicians involved in the attempt to separate Catalonia from Spain. It has been condemned by Sanchez’s conservative opponents who have organised large protests and accused him of putting the rule of law in Spain on the line for his own political gain. The conservative main opposition People’s Party (PP), which won the most votes in the July elections but failed to form a government, has attacked the prospect of amnesty for separatists, whom they describe as traitors to Spain.
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