The Central Electoral Board has dismissed the PSOE's appeal to review the invalid vote in Madrid. The electoral authority thus rejects the aspiration of the Socialists to recover the 122 seat that they lost after the inclusion in the scrutiny of the foreign vote, on July 28. The PSOE made this request after staying 1,300 ballots from the PP in the capital, although the Provincial Electoral Board of Madrid already anticipated the rejection that the JEC has confirmed this Monday, since it considers that there is no “indication of irregularity” that advises recount these 30,000 votes.

The review of the null vote in Madrid is a consequence of the dance of seats that took place after the external vote, which on July 28 ended up snatching a seat from the PSOE in the most populous province in the country to give it to the PP. And this change has the incentive that the 16th deputy for the popular is none other than Carlos García Adanero, the former UPN member expelled from the Navarrese party for defecting after rejecting the labor reform that his party agreed with the government of Pedro Sánchez.

The distance of 1,700 votes with which the PSOE closed the electoral night turned into an advantage of 1,300 votes in favor of the PP after a recount of several hours. “Nothing changes, we still need Junts,” socialist sources pointed out that same night. But in the match of the fist and the rose they launched this new count. This is possible since invalid votes are not destroyed, as is the case with other ballots.. And there are 30,000 votes that the socialists had asked to review to try to recover that seat.

This request from the PSOE has caused a striking side effect and the deputies elected from the Madrid list have not been able to go to collect their credentials in Congress. This detail has prevented the leaders of the four major parties from taking a position in their position in this impasse that the investiture process is experiencing.. The forecast is that the situation will be reactivated from the constitution of the Board of the Lower House, which will be on August 17. And that the formation of the body that governs the operation of Congress is the first clue of what may happen in the investiture. It must be taken into account that the 137th seat of the PP and its subtraction from the loot of the PSOE (and the left bloc) makes the affirmative vote of Junts necessary for the socialists even in this vote, secret and in a ballot box, which will mark the future of the legislature.

The JEC refers precisely to the possible breach of the deadlines established in the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) to justify its rejection of the appeal of the PSOE. “The appellant party does not allege any irregularity in the general scrutiny to justify the repetition,” points out the electoral authority, referring to the fact that the Socialists only argue their request in close proximity to the PP votes to be able to snatch that last seat. The JEC also explains that when there have been revisions of invalid votes, they have responded to problems in the ballots, such as their tinting.

One of the members of the JEC has presented a dissenting opinion of the decision to reject the appeal of the PSOE and against one of the legal grounds of the decision. Specifically, it points against the argument of the Central Electoral Board that denies the counting of invalid votes because the Socialists did not claim it at the correct procedural moment, that is, within a period not exceeding one day after the end of the count..

Part of the PSOE requests are assumed by the electoral authority in relation to the review of various votes considered valid for the PP and which have been declared invalid after the review requested by the PSOE. These votes do not change the result of the scrutiny of the foreign vote that was carried out almost 10 days ago and that only changed the situation in Madrid. In the other eight circumscriptions where the result was adjusted, the votes of the Census of Absent Resident Voters did not generate any change..