Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was reelected in a parliamentary vote on Thursday (November 16th, 2023), representing the Partido Socialista Obrero Español or Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. This election ended the four-month long deadlock in this year’s election for prime minister, but the country is not out of trouble yet, as hundreds of thousands protest the prime minister’s amnesty deal used to gain support.
Similar to the US presidential election, the Spanish election does not employ a direct democracy but instead a representative democracy. A similar electoral system is used, but instead of electors being picked for each constituency in the Electoral College, the vote is by the members of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain’s legislative branch. The members of the Congress are directly elected by each constituency, and the number of members per constituency is proportional to population
The deadlock occurred when Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Popular Party could not find enough support for an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies despite having the most votes. This deadlock finally ended months later with the second round of voting, where Sánchez gained the support of Catalan separatist parties.
In order to gain the critical support of two Catalan separatist parties, Sánchez agreed to sign an amnesty deal for the pardon of Catalan separatists whose crimes root from efforts towards succession ever since 2012. Such efforts include an informal vote held in 2014 that highlighted high backing for independence and an independence referendum by the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in 2017. The amnesty deal may pardon up to 1,400 politicians, all in exchange for votes from Catalan separatist parties in the election. Among the politicians is Carles Puigdemont, who since the Catalan independence referendum in 2017, has been a well known fugitive “considered public enemy No. 1 by many Spaniards”(AP News).
Critics, including groups of Spanish judges and the Spanish Council of the Judiciary, point out that the amnesty deal was unconstitutional and a threat to the rule of law. The amnesty agreement undermines the power of the judiciary, creating a new committee that goes over each amnesty case and avoids the risks of judges impacting the deal.
International trade lawyer and founder of España Mejor, a nonpartisan political organization supporting political involvement, Miriam González Durántez commented on the amnesty deal, stating that amnesties “must be deployed in exceptional circumstances and with the utmost care because they imply a conscious breach of the principle of equality before the law”(Financial Times). Despite that, Prime Minister Sánchez still went through with the amnesty deal, creating what Durántez described as a “direct assault on the separation of powers” where “international condemnation [is] unequivocal”.
Even several bishops expressed their opposition towards the deal, claiming there is a “spiritual crisis” in Spain and stating that “the unity of Spain is in danger”. The archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, also voiced his opinion on the issue, sourcing the division of political views to the increased praise of autonomy leading to a shift in the popular culture from one of public interest to one focused on self interest.
Ever since the proposal of the amnesty bill a few weeks prior to Pedro Sánchez getting sworn in on Thursday, thousands have gathered daily to protest the bill. Today was the largest protest yet, with around 170,000 people gathering at the center of Madrid, including the opposing party leaders Alberto Núñez Feijóo(People's Party) and Santiago Abascal(Vox). Many bring the arguments stated by judges and bishops, believing that Sánchez’s selfish use of the amnesty deal threatened the rule of law and the separation of powers.
5 comments:
I think this story shows how politicians can act in a selfish manner in order to gain power for themselves. I doubt that Sánchez isn't aware that the Spanish public doesn't like the Catalan independence movement, so this political move likely was out of the selfish desire for power. I wonder if Sánchez has made a statement or taken action against the protests and if the protests have any chance of changing the outcome of the election or if the people are just making their grievances heard. It will be interesting to see how this political move will affect the rest of Sánchez's term as Prime Minister as well as public perception of him.
I think Pedro Sánchez's decision to pardon Catalan separatists spells trouble for the Spanish government. For one, it is clear that a large portion of Spain's population is unhappy with Sánchez's decision, as much of Spain stands opposed to Catalonia's separation from Spain. For some important context, the motivation behind Catalonia's separation is that the government and many of the people there feel as though they contribute a significant amount economically to Spain and receive an inadequate amount back. Just viewing historical trends, this independence movement does seem like it has a low probability of succeeding because historically most successful independence movements have been motivated by mass ethnic mistreatment, genocide, or oppression. However, Sánchez's decision to pardon their separatist leaders sets a dangerous precedent that he is essentially condoning succession, and this may lead to future instability in the Spanish government.
Source:
BBC Article on Catalonia's Bid for Independence
The only reason Sánchez agreed to the amnesty deal was because he couldn’t get the majority of the votes, despite earning the plurality of the votes, and he desperately needed support. This led me to wonder about the Spanish voting system, and how they managed to go about using the absolute majority method. For example, in the US political system, if a presidential candidate doesn't get 270 electoral college votes, the House of Representatives and the Senate votes for the President and Vice President, respectively (as we have recently been learning about). Thus, this political “deadlock” is virtually impossible. After some research, I found out that Spain has a proportional at-large voting system for representatives, and an absolute majority requirement for the prime ministers, as part of a complex system that involves Congresspeople choosing the PM. The main difference between the US and Spanish systems here is that if a PM is not chosen the first time, there is another election, and this continues on indefinitely if there continues to be no majority winner. I think that the US system fares much better than the Spanish system, especially in such tight candidate races. Just like Sánchez did, it won’t be long before other candidates realize they can bend the rules to gain public support. After a while, the integrity of the political system will begin to collapse, and everything the nation is built on will be muddied and fragile.
Sanchez's decision to grant the Catalan separatists amnesty was probably a smart political move for him. 170,000 protesters pales in comparison to the number of protesters for Catalan independence (sometimes over half a million in Barcelona). While the decision definitely brings the issue to the forefront of Spain politics, and there will likely be more protests in the next few weeks, I don't think it will ultimately have a major effect on movements for Catalan independence or Spain's resistance to it. Granting amnesty is not the same thing as condoning the movement for independence. I think the Spanish government has made it abundantly clear that Catalan independence is unconstitutional and that they will oppose it. Rather, Sanchez was probably hoping for reconciliation in order to gain just enough more support to make a majority.
9 separatists were pardoned two years ago by King Felipe VI on Sanchez's suggestion --- it didn't cause as many protests because the move wasn't considered unconstitutional. I think similarly to then, the protests will quickly fade.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57565764
Its quite brilliant of Sánchez to utilize Cataluña's differences and separatists community for his own power, as they are a passionate and distinct faction of spain. Catalan is proud and powerful, and should serve him well in support in the future, perhaps worth the cost of the protesters of the present. However certainly this act of pardon is politically immoral and selfish on behalf of Sánchez, had he not been a previous Catalan supporter. The protesters of course have a just cause to protest, and hopefully this inflammation of opinion encourages Spain to hold their leaders more accountable in the future, and warns politicians to be less corrupt strategists.
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