No. And no. And now… ellipsis. The deadline is May 4. María Guardiola became the first female president of the Extremadura Regional Government in July 2023. She first announced early elections in this region last December, which she won, but without the absolute majority she aspired to. And it failed this Friday, also for the first time in this autonomous community of just over a million inhabitants, in an investiture session by not having the necessary support.
Until May 4, the popular parties will be able to hold all the plenary sessions that they consider necessary to gather support for the formation of Santiago Abascal. The 11 deputies have again announced a refusal this Friday. A vote that has not actually taken by surprise any of the 29 popular seats, who have come to the chamber amidst cheers of “president, president”, and without long faces.
Popular sources in Extremadura assure, however, that the negotiation – three face-to-face meetings have been held since December 21 between both parties – is now back on track and that it is only a matter of “time”, and calls. But—there are always buts in meetings—now with a two-month deadline. “Many things have been done wrong,” acknowledges a PP voice with a lot of weight in the region. “We’ll see now.” Vox has also given signals in its speech that the agreement is not as far away as it seems. At least, on the day it might seem that way.
“The main problem in believing it [en referencia a Guardiola] They are his colleagues from Genoa and Brussels. Not the ones here… for now,” observed the leader of Vox, Óscar Fernández Calle during his brief five-minute speech. Calle has blamed the failure of this time of negotiations on Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “He gladly sits with the PNV and flatters those who want to break up Spain,” he said, in reference to a conference by the popular leader in the Basque Country to which the president of the nationalists, Aitor Esteban, also attended in the audience.
“Whether they are called PSOE, PNV or Junts,” the Vox spokesperson in Extremadura insisted, “each one chooses their companies.” Calle, before saying goodbye, in a speech read from two pages and calculated to the millimeter, has once again issued a warning: “If you want, you have also known for two and a half months that Vox is here, to talk and agree measure by measure. Knowing that the Extremadurans have said that they want twice as much Vox.”
Never before had a rejection of an investiture session occurred in the Extremaduran Parliament. The closest it came to failure was in an unusual session in June 2011. An abstention by Izquierda Unida for the PP to govern. And another in 1995, also from IU, so that the socialist Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra would govern.
“I know that these days politics is not showing the best side,” said Guardiola in his last speech, with a wink to the deputies of Santiago Abascal, who have observed the popular candidate, attentive and with hardly any gestures. “Gentlemen of Vox,” said Guardiola, “we should put aside the reproaches and the blame. This is what I am going to ask of my party. The objective must be stability. Every day that passes is a day that does not return. The votes do not belong to any of us. I could regret not being sworn in as president, but I have a clear conscience. I only ask for loyalty. Extremadura is waiting for us, Mr. Fernández, let us not fail it.”
Now, yes, the calendar is underway. The deadline is May 4. If an agreement is not reached, Extremadurans would return to the polls 54 days later, in June. Upon leaving, the Vox deputy did not want to evaluate Guardiola’s speech. She, yes: “I’m not considering taking a step aside. Repetition is not desirable.”
