Sánchez leaves it in the hands of Patxi López to negotiate the presidency of Congress, which the PP longs for

Pedro Sánchez will have to find the way out of the labyrinth emanating from the polls on 23-J to be able to govern, but there is already a first stop, a contact not without risks that will be crucial to decide who gets the keys to the Congress of Deputies in the XV Legislature. The Lower House must be constituted on August 17, so the 11 formations and coalitions with parliamentary representation have a few weeks to negotiate the composition of the governing body, the Table, as well as to decide who should preside over it. The movements have already begun.

Socialist sources assure that Sánchez has delegated these conversations to the until now socialist spokesman, Patxi López, who already presided over the Chamber in the failed legislature of 2016. López will be the one who takes the pulse of the independence and nationalist formations that are essential to them to have the option of revalidating the Government, but also to seize the reins of Congress. It will try to forge agreements so that the PSOE and Sumar block (153 seats) have the 19 seats of ERC, Bildu, PNV and BNG, to add more than the PP and Vox block (169).. The role of Junts per Catalunya (seven deputies) has yet to be defined. In any case, among other functions, the president interprets the regulations, is in charge of the plenary session, as well as the meetings of the Bureau and the Board of Spokesmen, and plays a crucial role in managing the progress of parliamentary activity..

If López manages to forge a new alliance, the new parliamentary arithmetic would allow the PSOE to caress the presidency of Congress, and would also foreseeably distribute the four vice-presidencies and the four secretariats between the two blocks, two and two for the left, and the other two vice-presidencies and secretariats for the right.. In the last legislature, PSOE and Unidas Podemos controlled six of the nine seats, the PP two and Vox, only one.

The first shock may occur, however, when the PP conveys to Sánchez its desire to preside over the Chamber, since it was the force with the most votes in the general elections. Genoa sources acknowledge this will, although they say that they have not yet maintained contact with the PSOE or Vox to address it..

The calendar is devilish, but the first screen to overcome is precisely the constitutive session. It will be chaired by the oldest elected deputy, assisted by the two youngest parliamentarians. The regulation specifies that, to elect the president, each deputy will write a name on the ballot, which will be inserted in the ballot box, and, therefore, the vote will be secret.. The person who obtains the absolute majority in a first vote will be elected; If a second round is necessary, they can only bet on one of the two parliamentarians elected with the most votes previously, and the one who achieves the most votes will be elected..

The four vice presidents will be elected simultaneously, writing a single name on the ballot. The four most voted will be appointed, and the process will be repeated with the secretaries. That is why it is essential, given the balance that emerged from 23-J, to concentrate the vote.

The second screen, even more important, but further back in time, will come immediately after the constitutive session. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, winner of the elections, but unable to join Vox and other parties, will transfer to Felipe VI his will to present himself for an investiture that is expected to fail. There is no set time interval for the head of state to transfer his candidate proposal to the president of Congress, nor for him to set the date of the plenary session. It could be held in the last week of August or already at the beginning of September.

This date is important because, after a first session in which it does not obtain an absolute majority (176 seats), a second session will be held 48 hours later, in which it will be enough to have more yeses than noes, something that does not seem possible in this case either.. If the confidence of the Chamber is not achieved, the period of two months will begin to run, in which the same candidate or other candidates will be able to run again, at the proposal of the King. And if none of them can form a government, the president of Congress will submit the decree of dissolution of the Cortes for the monarch's signature: 47 days later, new elections will be held.

If the script planned by Feijóo is fulfilled, and in the event that Sánchez appears, but does not achieve support that is difficult to obtain -Junts' abstention is necessary-, new general elections will be held three and a half months after the failed investiture. Feijóo and Sánchez have it in their hands to activate the stopwatch that, if they cannot stop, will lead to a new appointment with the polls at the end of the year, or at the start of 2024.