No vote of confidence in Spain's minority government

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the right-wing People's Party (PP), which emerged as the first party in the early general elections held in Spain on July 23 but could not find enough majority in the Parliament, failed to get the vote of confidence he wanted from the Parliament in the first round to form a minority government.

27.09.2023 - 19:10 Created at

No vote of confidence in Spain's minority government

In the first round of voting, where an absolute majority (176) was required after two days of confidence sessions in the parliament, 172 "yes" and 178 "no" votes were cast for the PP minority government Feijoo wanted to form.

Feijoo was supported by his party PP, which has 137 MPs, as well as the far-right Vox, which has 33 MPs, and the Canary Coalition (CC) and the Popular Union of Navarra (UPN), which have 1 MP each.

According to this result, Feijoo failed to win a vote of confidence, while the second and final round of the vote of confidence, which requires a simple majority (more yeses than noes and abstentions), will take place 48 hours later, on September 29.

The result is expected to remain unchanged in the second round and the PP leader's attempt to form a government is expected to fail.

- Government formation depends on amnesty for separatist Catalan politicians

According to the parliamentary arithmetic formed after the July 23 elections in Spain, the only possibility is the formation of a minority left-wing coalition government between the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Sumar, a coalition of 17 left-wing political parties, with the outside support of Basque and Catalan political parties.