The "no" to the amnesty wins in the autonomies: more than 620 regional parliamentarians vote against throughout Spain

«In the Congress of Deputies, on November 13, 2023. Patxi López, spokesperson for the Socialist Group». Five weeks ago, the PSOE registered the bill with the greatest political and legal tension of any it has brought to the Lower House in 45 years of democracy. The 23 pages of the document draw a new frontier on the political board. Or a “wall”, according to the expression that made a fortune at the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Until then, no one had dared to go that far in the concessions to the leaders of the 1-O separatist attempt.. That is why the title of the law itself was already a justification: “Organic law of amnesty for political, institutional and social normalization in Catalonia.”

That day the script was consummated by a PSOE that had actively and passively denied the possibility of a preventive and general measure of pardon for all those involved in the process and that now resigned itself to “making necessity a virtue.”. But two months before the text was registered, the regional parliaments had already been voting on the possibility of wiping the slate clean for Carles Puigdemont and the rest of the possible amnestied people.

The first to vote were the attorneys of the Cortes of Castilla y León, on September 20, and the last were the deputies of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, this past Wednesday. In just under three months, the regional parliaments have debated and voted on a common initiative of the PP against the amnesty. The popular party had presented a proposal in each and every one of the regions to substantiate the preventive rejection of the erasure of the crimes of the process “in exchange for seven votes.”. But in two of them the “no” came with the bill already in Congress: Galicia and the Canary Islands.

And the final result is 14 votes in favor of the PP non-law proposal and four against. These figures give an idea of the enormous gain in power of the PP in the last regional elections, because it is exclusively the 12 communities and two autonomous cities governed by the popular ones that have voted against the amnesty: Andalusia, Madrid, Valencian Community, Galicia, Castilla and León, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Canary Islands (where the PP has the vice presidency), Melilla and Ceuta.

Socialist vote against

The PP (453) and Vox (118) add 571 deputies and attorneys in the regional Parliaments. Plus the 19 from the Canarian Coalition, the 9 from Ciudadanos and those from other parties such as Foro Asturias, UPN, Unión del Pueblo Leonés and Soria Ya!, total just over 620 parliamentarians against the amnesty. PSOE, Sumar, Junts, ERC, PNV, Bildu, BNG, IU and other partners also total almost more than 600.

The difference in total votes is minimal, but the majorities lean clearly to the right. And the joint offensive of the PP autonomies will not stop there. Génova has created a working group in which Cuca Gamarra will coordinate all these communities to continue “responding” to Sánchez for the amnesty, for the verifier and, now, for “handing over” Pamplona to Bildu, with a motion of censure that will unseat to Cristina Ibarrola (UPN).

The 14 parliaments that have already rejected the amnesty represent 35.8 million Spaniards, 71% of the population. And 88% of the territory. On all occasions, the PSOE has voted against and Vox, in favor. The socialists have revolted against the PP's intention to “portray” their regional leaders, and have pressed the “no” button forcefully in each and every one of the autonomies. In all? No, there is one notable exception. The PSOE of Castilla-La Mancha is the only party in the regional government that has not allowed the institutional declaration to be debated in plenary.

Not in vain, this is a debate that does not exactly benefit Emiliano García-Page, regarding his party. Because? Because the Toledo baron is against the clean slate of the crimes of the process. Voting “yes” to the PP initiative would have been an affront to his party and voting “no” would have been incoherent. Between tripping Pedro Sánchez and self-tripping, Page chose tancredism: better not to move. Page believes that the vote was nothing more than a “trap” by the PP. “It bothers me that they use institutions to set up traps and to try to portray regional presidents,” he recently told this newspaper.