Spanish PM and Socialist Party (PSOE) candidate Pedro Sanchez applauds next to Spain's Minister of Budget Maria Jesus Montero (R) one day after Spain's general election at the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) headquarters in Madrid on July 24, 2023. The Spanish right is only just slightly ahead of the socialists Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who maintains the chance to stay in power through alliances, following Spain's general election. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES.
The July 23rd results are, according to the PSOE, very good but at the same time very delicate. This was made clear when the party canceled its press conference on Monday to assess the election’s results, when all the press was already fully installed in the Ferraz headquarters. Statements to journalists had to be made just after Pedro Sánchez’s speech, addressed to his federal executive.
“Sunday night’s results are a message for all parties, and everyone must rest and analyse them calmly,” said Sanchez in reference to all parties which are more likely to invest in the socialist leader rather than Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the People’s Party (PP) leader. “Democracy will find the formula for governability”, said Sanchez.
Junts per Catalunya has the upper hand, and although PSOE sources insist the Catalans were not the focus of much of Sánchez’s speech on Monday, they also indicate that in Ferraz there is hope that Carles Puigdemont’s party has “two souls”. But everything is very delicate, and a misstep in the first hours after the July 23rd elections could complicate Pedro Sánchez’s investiture.
“It is a very good result, no decisions shall be taken until a lot of analysis has been done,” said the Socialist leadership, which remarked that there is nothing wrong with waiting a few months to hold an investiture session if pacts are already closed and confirmed.
However, the chance of the PSOE undoing its state manoeuvre with the PP and the commons, handing over the Barcelona mayoralty to Xavier Trias, is seen as impossible by the Socialists. Pedro Sánchez has not made any assessment of Clara Ponsatí’s return to Catalonia and her consequent arrest. The socialists argue that Spanish justice must do its job, without the need for the Junts MEP to influence post-electoral pacts.
Euphoria in the PSOE the day after July 23rd Elections.
Minister Teresa Ribera arrived euphoric at the Ferraz headquarters just a few minutes before the socialist Federal Executive Committee was due to begin. “We will try”, said Ribera at her party’s headquarters, when asked whether the PSOE will agree with Junts per Catalunya on Pedro Sánchez’s investiture. However, she made clear that there are still “complicated weeks” ahead.
However, she welcomed the “good news for everyone” of the right-wing bloc’s defeat in the July 23rd general election. “Spain has stopped the far-right”, added the minister, which, according to her, makes the progressive bloc in the Congress of Deputies responsible for governance. “This is the basis from which to start our work,” said Ribera.
Félix Bolaños, Spanish minister of the Presidency, who pointed out that the Spanish electorate made itself “very clear” on Sunday, saying “’no’ to the far-right coalition” of the PP and Vox. Pilar Alegría, PSOE’s minister and spokesperson, was more timid, limiting herself to saying that “Spain spoke clearly”.
Produced in association with El Nacional En
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
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