Blast from the past as former PM has his say

FELIPE GONZALEZ was president of Spain’s post-Transition socialist governments between December 1982 and May 1996.

When he opens his mouth these days, many of the current PSOE hierarchy wince and wait for what’s coming.  Very often it’s something they’d rather not hear and Gonzalez’s latest bon mots weren’t music to their ears.

The former president believes, as does the PP’s presidential candidate Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, that the most-voted party should be the party that governs following the July 23 general election.

It might not be ideal, but it was an acceptable option, Gonzalez suggested in an article entitled Pactar es Progresar (Pacts mean Progress) in the Nueva Revista magazine published by the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).

This wasn’t the first time that Gonzalez has put forward a similar proposal, although his article mentioned neither his own party nor the PP.

Should the PSOE scoop up more votes than the PP on July 23, Feijoo has already announced his readiness to clear the way for the socialists.  This, he said, would avert the risk of what he calls a Frankenstein government, like the patchwork of assorted parties which backed the No Confidence vote of June 2018 that put Pedro Sanchez in the Moncloa.

The socialists have turned down the offer although other PSOE old-timers, including Cesar Antonio Molina who was Minister of Culture between 2007 and 2009 during Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government, are thinking along the same lines.

Meanwhile, Zapatero declared during a TV3 interview on July 3 that should the PP be the most-voted party, the PSOE would not abstain during Feijoo’s investiture vote, instead obliging him to depend on Vox to form a government.

“I don’t envisage this scenario under any circumstances,” Zapatero said.  “That’s clear.”

Poll predictions

THE election campaign doesn’t officially start until July 7 although in effect it began on the morning of May 29.  That was when Pedro Sanchez announced the date of the next election after digesting the PSOE-UP coalition’s dismal results in the municipal and regional elections.

Since then, polls carried out for both the Left and Right have consistently put the PP in the lead.

The latest carried out by 40dB for El Pais and Cadena SER radio – both supportive of Pedro Sanchez, if not all of his coalition partners – gives the PP 31 per cent of the vote, and 125 seats, a loss of 2 percentage points on the June 12-14 survey.

At the same time, the 40dB survey detected an increase in PP votes going over to Vox, which remains in third place with 15 per cent and 43 seats.

Voting intention for the PSOE – according to 40dB – grew by 1.3 percentage points to 29 per cent to occupy 111 seats.

Sumar situated to the left of the PSOE was stuck on 13 per cent and 35 seats.

Translated into parliamentary seats, the PP and Vox would have 168 between them, eight short of the 176 needed for an overall majority.

The PSOE and Sumar would manage 146 but might again call on the nationalist parties who have helped out in the past.