The unprecedented decision to "reflect" on his continuity as President of the Government opens a scenario as unlikely as it is uncertain.
There was a surprise. Not even the PSOE itself knew it (or so they say). Pedro Sánchez announced that he is canceling his agenda for four days to "be able to reflect and decide which path to take" in relation to his continuity as President of the Spanish Government. The measure is as unique as it is improbable in our country. No public official, and even less so at the highest level, has ever announced a 'retreat' to meditate on whether or not he will continue to hold his post. On Monday he will say what he has decided, opening a range of possibilities among which would be to vote again in the middle of summer.
The opening of proceedings for a complaint against Begoña Gómez, wife of Pedro Sánchez, has been the last straw for the socialist. In the midst of the campaign against Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the tax issues of his partner, the president has hidden behind the respect for the family. Ayuso had to resign, he is a victim.
Depending on whether Pedro Sánchez resigns this Monday or what he does is to announce that he is leaving the presidency (deferred resignation), one path or another opens up. If the resignation is immediate, the process marked by the Constitution would end up leading to the King having to propose a new candidate, which would open the doors of the Moncloa to María Jesús Montero as number two in the presidential cabinet.
Elections in July 2024
The other option is for Pedro Sánchez to announce that he will call elections, but here it would be necessary to take the calendar because they could not be immediate. The hard electoral defeats of the PSOE in 2023 led Sánchez to bring forward elections to the middle of the summer. That political strategy prevents the dissolution of the Cortes Generales until May 29, since the Constitution preserves this decision for one year. In other words, no matter how much Pedro Sánchez would like to call elections, they would not start their process for another month, thus returning to the same period of last year: elections on July 21.
The electoral campaign for the general elections of summer 2024 would start on July 5 and would end on July 19. It must be taken into account that until summer we will have two more elections, after having passed the Basque elections. On May 12 are the autonomic elections in Catalonia and on Sunday June 9 will be the turn for the European elections.
Pedro Sánchez's question of confidence
There are two other options after Sanchez's ordago: to present himself for a question of confidence in Congress, which he should pass with a simple majority of the hemicycle, or that everything remains the same, that he does not resign and that this period of reflection has been nothing more than another piece of the president's surprising political strategy.
Whether he resigns, stays or there is a new president, what is certain is that the image of the country is in question, since it is unconscionable to respond with a period of reflection to the opening of proceedings for a complaint against his wife. He is "in love"; we are perplexed.
