• Espinosa de los Monteros leaves Vox and opens a new crisis in the party

Vox opened last Sunday to support Alberto Núñez Feijóo in a possible investiture without asking for anything in return. But it will not follow that pattern in the vote on August 17, when the Congress Table must be constituted.. The result of 23-J guarantees the PP four of the nine positions in the body, but Genoa intends to also fight to seize the presidency of the Chamber from the PSOE. In this case, however, there will be no free support from the ultra-conservative formation. Sources from the party leadership confirm that their intention is to demand a position in the governing body of Congress. “If not, we will vote for ours,” they warn.

The PP has initiated preliminary and discreet contacts with some forces of the parliamentary arch to try to shield that objective. As El Confidencial learned, Genoa is open to even giving up a seat on the Board to the PNV to try to truncate the majority of Pedro Sánchez. They see it as “difficult” to attract the jeltzales, since they have verbalized their refusal to support Feijóo on two occasions. But the popular ones insist on separating the distribution of positions in the Cortes from the investiture vote and they see some margin for negotiation with the Basque nationalists on this issue.. A few days ago, Andoni Ortuzar denounced in El País the “legislative techniques” used by Sánchez in the previous legislature and the abuse of the decree-law during his term with the approval of the aforementioned body.

However, the Vox order may further complicate the intentions of the PP with the PNV, which has already warned that it would not participate in any equation in which Santiago Abascal was involved..

The elections of 23-J dealt a hard blow to Vox, which left 19 deputies at the polls. But it also remains the third political force, with 33 seats, above Sumar. Since 2019, Vox has held the fourth vice presidency of the Chamber, which was held by deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro. In Abascal's party, they do not clarify what position they aspire to this time, but they do warn that they will fight in the negotiations with the PP to maintain their quota at the Table.

Vox thus limits its strategic turn with Feijóo to an eventual investiture vote, and they are not willing to compromise with the idea of getting up from the parliamentary body so that the PNV can take its place. The vote on August 17 requires in the first instance an absolute majority of one of the candidates for the presidency of the Chamber, but neither of the two large groups has the necessary majority to achieve it.. The most voted applicants would face a second vote, in which only more yeses than noes would be required. The vote is secret, in a ballot box. And the sums of both blocks are so adjusted that a single seat can tip the balance to one side or the other..

PP and Vox have 170 seats, while PSOE and Sumar only reach 153. The cooperation of the nationalist forces in this last case is essential. Genoa wants to attract the five deputies of the PNV to break the balance, but it plays with another trick: that Junts distance itself from this vote to put the left-wing bloc against the ropes and issue a warning to Sánchez for the investiture. In 2019, ERC, Junts, Bildu and the CUP cast invalid ballots during the vote that elevated Meritxell Batet to the presidency of Congress.

Genoa considers 172 supports tied to an eventual investiture of Feijóo, with 137 own seats, 33 from Vox, one from UPN and one from the Canary Coalition. It is the same majority that the PP aspires to reissue in the vote that will decide the color of the presidency of Congress, waiting for how the negotiation with the PNV turns out. If the Basque nationalists were located in the Sánchez block, this would add 171 supports if no vote from Sumar, ERC, Bildu and BNG slips. The unchecking of Junts would tip the balance in favor of the right in this case, and everything points, once again, to a high-voltage vote in the Lower House.