Can Sánchez be overthrown by a vote of no confidence?

MadridThe judicial maelstrom affecting the PSOE translates into noise in Congress, but not into tectonic shifts. The motion of no confidence, which is the parliamentary tool that could provoke them, hovers over the lower house with no prospect that the PP, the only opposition party with enough deputies to register it, will force one. This immobility is explained by the fact that Junts and the PNB, Pedro Sánchez's investiture allies with the most options to distance themselves, are resisting aligning themselves with Alberto Núñez Feijóo – and by extension with Vox – however much they have raised their tone against the socialists in recent days.

So, Feijóo's party continues to make no move, despite their shock this Wednesday at the UCO's entry into the PSOE's state headquarters. Party sources defend, once again, that they do not want to take missteps with a failed no-confidence motion, and Feijóo's party is focusing its strategy on putting all the pressure on the parties of the plurinational majority while prescribing themselves tranquility as they await future events.

The popular leader put it into practice at the start of the control session in Congress when he proclaimed that the Spanish government's situation is "agonizing" and expressed hope that recent events would "change the plans of the partners who are supporting a government that stinks." "There is no other choice but to give the word to the Spanish people immediately," he added. For their part, Junts and the PNB have shrugged off the responsibility that the Popular Party is trying to transfer to them. "The only party that can present it is the PP, and as far as we know, there is none on the table," replied the Junts spokesperson in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, in an interview with 3Cat.

From the Senate, the Basque nationalists have even urged the PP to dare to take the step to remove the focus that is being placed on them. This was expressed by the PNB spokesperson in the upper house, Estefanía Beltrán de Heredia, during the debate on a motion by the Popular Party to censure the entire Spanish government. The jeltzale senator criticized the PP for promoting "media circuses" and dedicating itself to "entertaining and making noise" with "pseudo no-confidence motions" in the Senate. "If you consider that the circumstances are right to present a no-confidence motion, do it now and do it where you should, in the Congress of Deputies," she insisted.

Despite these reproaches, both the PNB and Junts abstained, even though the initiative already had guaranteed approval because the PP has an absolute majority in the Senate. Canarian Coalition also opted for the same position, which has been criticizing Sánchez for days for acting "as if nothing had happened" and demanding either early elections or a vote of confidence. "Sánchez's partners have started to let go of his hand," PP sources in the Senate claimed after the vote, concluding that "no one wants to appear alongside him in the photo anymore." However, and despite the evident unease about the situation, none of them are currently willing to appear in the alternative photo, with the PP and Vox.

A Sánchez "out of touch with reality"

In parallel, Sánchez's reaction from Rome, downplaying the judicial investigations, has generated unease. Podem leader Ione Belarra has criticized it, warning that the situation is "very unsustainable." However, the purple party rejects that the solution to alleged corruption can come from a PP linked to other corruption cases and focus on the mobilization of the left in the streets. "The mistake was to delegate the achievement of rights to the PSOE," said Belarra.

Nogueras has demanded explanations from both Sánchez and the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, while from Sumar, they see the socialists "in shock," but maintain that the legislature must reach its end and set illegal financing as a red line – a limit also set by ERC, Compromís, and the BNG. However, even if he lasts a few more months in Moncloa, for the PP, Sánchez's words show that the Spanish president is already "out of touch with reality."