Spanish elections and politics

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PSOE has declared it will neither join with PP, nor abstain.

What other options are there?

Frankly, I think HM should invite a technocrat ASAP.

[ag]

PSOE has declared it will neither join with PP, nor abstain.

What other options are there?

Frankly, I think HM should invite a technocrat ASAP.

PP government with C's as junior coalition partner thanks to the support/abstention of PNV (5 seats), CC (1 seat) and Nueva Canaria (1 seat, individual party that however ran with the PSOE in the election but does not answer to its whip iirc)

Will abstension of PNV be enough? The government in this case has 171 votes with 174 against it.

And would the leftists in Nueva Canarias want it?

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On the first ballot of an investiture, you need 176 votes to form a government, but on a subsequent one you need 176 votes to stop a government from forming.

If that were the case, PNV and CC would be all you needed. Nueva Canarias is only there to get the 176th vote.

But it is not the case. I just checked the constitution. On the second vote you, indeed, only need a plurality instead of majority. This is why PSOE abstaining works. However, if PNV abstains and everybody else votes predictably, it will be, at best (even with Nuevas Canarias in favor of PP) 171 in favor, 174 against, and this is NOT enough. PNV must actively support the PP government, or else it simply does not have enough votes. Curiously, CDC abstaining, while PNV votes against, would have been enough.

Article 33, Section 3: Si el Congreso de los Diputados, por el voto de la mayoría absoluta de sus miembros, otorgare su confianza a dicho candidato, el Rey le nombrará Presidente. De no alcanzarse dicha mayoría, se someterá la misma propuesta a nueva votación cuarenta y ocho horas después de la anterior, y la confianza se entenderá otorgada si obtuviere la mayoría simple.

If the Congress of Deputies, by the vote of an absolute majority of its members gives its confidence to the said candidate, the King names him President. If the said majority is not reached, the same proposal is submitted to a new vote fourty eight hours after the previous one, and the confidence shall be understood given if it obtains a simple majority <plurality>.

[ag]

And, honestly, would PP even back a technocrat after having come in first in two elections straight?

As long as C is on board, PP agreement is not necessary.

[ag]

PSOE has declared it will neither join with PP, nor abstain.

What other options are there?

Frankly, I think HM should invite a technocrat ASAP.

I think this is the opening bid.  The threat of another election will, I think, push C to most likely join PP and PSOE to abstain (or at least part of the PSOE MPs which is good enough.)  We will see how this plays as Rajoy plays the waiting game.  

My understanding is, they are not going to abstain, at least, as long as Rajoy is the one proposed by PP.  They may have left an opening to abstain if it is somebody else. Like a PP-affiliated technocrat. That is their bid.

Abstaining for Rajoy or even another "mainline" PP politician would kill PSOE. Far too may people would never forgive this, and Podemos is an available alternative. I think you may be underestimating the tribal feeling there.

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EDIT: The king can't invite a technocrat without having secured said person is backed by someone.

Could the King, or a surrogate, quietly propose somebody to the party leaders? Would that be viewed as a no-no?

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Just a comment...

If Podemos and Ciudadanos wouldn't exist, and if we would give the number of seats they obtained in this election to PSOE and respectively PP, we would have exactly the same problem to form a government with the traditional bipartisan system !

The problem doesn't seem to be the end of bipartisan system, but the fact that the catalan parties wont's support any government... If they have the balance of power, and this is the cas now, nothing can be done.

In fact, they have almost always had the balance of power except in the 2000 and the 2011 elections, so nothing new, except that these parties are now unacceptable. ("infréquentables" in French)

So we can say that the problem of governability of Spain relies essentially on the catalan parties and the catalan problem.

Good observation.

Of course, the Catalan parties would happily support any government that gives them the referendum

Also, an interesting observation concerning outcomes of close elections in the (still) UK

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Wait isn't Gonzalez a complete crook? Why does he still have influence within the PSOE?

Aside a crook, Felipe González is an historic leader and probably the most relevant figure of the democratic period begun in 1977. He served as PM from 1982 to 1996 and, with its lights and its shadows, his tenure was one of modernization of the country. The man is a living legend for many socialists and Pablo Iglesias made a mistake attacking him in the Congress of Deputies during the failed investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Even those socialists who don't side now with the friend of Carlos Slim and former PM are going to feel that an attack on González is an attack on PSOE.

Just a minor clarification, both for the Spanish speakers and for the rest. "Relevante" in Spanish does not have the same meaning as "relevant" in English. "Relevante" means "crucially important". "Relevant", of course, means "having something to do with". So, Felipe Gonzalez has, indeed, been a super-important player in Spanish history - not a somewhat obscure figure that may be suggested by the choice of the English word.

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Españoles...Sanchez ha dimitido.

I am not sure many non-Spaniards appreciate this, but I do

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Idiots. Socialists will have hard time ever governing the rump Spain without Catalonia.

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PSOE: 68 abstain, 15 No, 1 resigned (Pedro Sánchez)

The 15 holdouts include the 7 members of PSC. I have a feeling, the will soon be sending Madrid officials to substitute for bulls in the reimposed Barcelona corrida.

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desecration of Franco's grave

Holy of Holies has, clearly, been rediscovered.