A surfeit of elections for the Murcia region

IN a long hot summer with no respite from record temperatures and non-stop politics, Murcia can look forward to a double dose of both.

The rest of Spain has  been given a breather until September 26 when the Partido Popular’s presidential candidate Alberto Nuñez Feijoo plunges into a two-day investiture debate, aware that success or failure hinges on the four votes he needs for an overall majority.

Failing that, he would settle for a “simple majority” with more yeas than nays but while Feijoo attempts to muster those votes from who-knows-where, his party has another pressing problem to solve.

In the May 28 regional elections, the PP won 21 seats and 42.87 per cent of the vote for Murcia’s regional assembly, with another 12 for the PSOE socialists and nine for Vox.

On the face of it, Fernando Lopez Miras – the region’s incumbent president – was on a roll, needing only two Vox votes or the party’s abstention.

In return Vox wants to control two departments in the regional government, which Lopez Miras does not want to cede.  He has also turned down Vox’s request for a place on the Mesa (Table) which oversees the day-to-day running of the regional assembly.

Lopez Miras has made it known that he does not want to be tied, does not want alliances or coalitions or a repetition of the recent past when he was faced with a no-confidence vote from the PSOE and Ciudadanos.

He survived the March 2021 crisis thanks to three regional MPs from Ciudadanos who decided at the last minute not to toe the party line and another three from Vox who had been expelled from the party the previous year.

Insiders explain that Lopez Miras is determined never to put himself in a position where he must depend on another party although the PP has already taken over the regional governments of Castilla y Leon, Aragon, the Valencian Community and Extremadura thanks to Vox.

This last region was at one stage in doubt, when the PP’s Maria Guardiola was in a similar position to Lopez Mira’s.  Initially, she said she would not include the hard-Right party in any government of hers owing to its denial of gender-based violence, its anti-immigration stance and attacks on the LGBTQ community.

Guardiola, pressured by the PP’s Madrid headquarters, eventually caved in. Possibly Lopez Miras will also cave in.

Neither is it insignificant that while Vox assured King Felipe that the party would back Feijoo’s investiture, it later warned that it was not “logical” to vote for a party which was refusing to allow Vox to enter Murcia’s regional assembly.

Meanwhile the PP hierarchy maintains, without giving anything away, that Lopez Miras has the last word.

Some days back, when asked if he had any plans to negotiate with Vox, the Murcia politician answered that it was necessary “to wait and see.”

Lopez Mira can’t wait much longer, as he has until September 7 to forestall another election in October by reaching an agreement with Vox.

Or, to put it another way, the PP headquarters in Madrid’s Calle Genova has until September 7 to help Lopez Miras make up his mind.