In agreement with Vox and the Basques, formation of a new government remains in Spain

The leader of the Spanish opposition maintained at this terça-feira (25) his plan to obtain sufficient support in Parliament to form a right-wing government after a bitter national election on Sunday, even when those prospects seemed dire after a Basque party refused to negotiate.

The center-right Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) said on Twitter that its president communicated to the leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, that the PNV will not hold any discussion to support his candidacy for the post of prime minister.

The PP conquered 136 seats in the lower chamber, out of 350 seats, with these two 176 parliamentarians necessary for an absolute majority. The party will only be able to form a government with the support of other parties, including Vox, of the extreme right, as which signed alliances in various regional governments.

The Vox lost seats in Sunday’s vote, upsetting the perspective of a government supported by nationalists and putting limitations on the attempt of the European extreme right to become dominant.

The investigations previously brought a victory to the PP, like Vox helping to consolidate a new conservative government, but together they will not be able to obtain the majority, leaving the pro-independence parties of Catalonia and the Basque Country with power in a divided Parliament.

“Saying that you don’t have support because of a conversation with some group is a hasty conclusion,” Feijóo told reporters at this terça-feira. He says that he still does not convert with the leadership of Vox.

“It would be a mistake to allow the separatists to govern us,” he added, referring to what he described as a “coalization of losers” led by the socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who won 122 seats.

The Spanish right has been criticized for the left, which has been in power since 2018, for its trust in pro-independence parties, while the left alerted for the return of retrocession policies in relation to civic and women’s rights and immigration.

Sánchez can renew his mandate if he obtains the support of parties that defend the independence of the regions of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, just like the PNV, now a new election is seen as a clear possibility.

Feijóo says that he plans to talk with Sánchez shortly, or that he suggests that he may still try to convince the Socialists to make their government possible with abstention.

Other parties also signaled their opposition to any coalition that included the far right.

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Belén Carreño)