Mariano Rajoy in a hurry to get no-confidence vote settled

Mariano Rajoy surprised everyone on Sunday night by clearing his official agenda of the week but the Speaker of Spain’s Parliament, Ana Pastor, solved the mystery 12 hours later. Rajoy has decided to face the vote of no-confidence registered by the leader of the PSOE Perdo Sánchez as quickly as possible. Pastor called an urgent meeting of the House Standing Committe and forced the vote for Friday of this week, leaving Sánchez just 72 before the Thursday debate to try to muster support of his motion. Well aware that Ciutadans will not support Sánchez, the PP leader then forces the socialists to gain support from the Basque nationalist PNV and Catalonia’s two independence parties, PdeCat and ERC. All three will demand a high price for that support, and one which Rajoy is sure Sanchez is not prepared to pay.

Pastor’s speed in setting the date is in contrast with the vote presented by Podem in June 2017 when she delayed action for one month and then set a 25-day period previous to the debate, averting a rapprochement between Podem and the PSOE.

Surprisingly, so far the Socialist leader has not bothered to make any direct contact with representatives from the parties that he will need to convince to back his motion if he is indeed to have some chance of succeeding.