Vox is desperately looking for a candidate "Independent" for his motion of censure against Sánchez

Everything points to the fact that the protagonist of this new parliamentary chapter will once again be Santiago Abascal, who has already announced that Vox will take the initiative in the face of the PP’s refusal to pick up the gauntlet that both he and Inés Arrimadas threw at him almost in unison. The leader of Ciudadanos, immersed in a pitched battle with her spokesman, Edmundo Bal, for the leadership of her own formation, has become Abascal’s main —and unexpected— ally in the clamp that both leaders form against Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

The outlook, however, does not look easy for the extreme right, already determined to register and champion this “instrumental” motion whose purpose, they say, would be to call “immediately” general elections, a scenario that Vox has already verified. that the President of the Government is not going to encourage. Although Abascal knows that this censorship is doomed to failure, he intends that this time the alternative candidate to Sánchez be a person, in his opinion, “of consensus”, alien to his party, with an “independent” profile and, if possible, with “government experience”.

To do this, the leader of Vox has launched into testing numerous former leaders of parties who ceased to be in the political spotlight a long time ago, but who continue in some way to be in the media limelight, either through their public statements at events or forums promoted for themselves, or for their feverish activity on social media. They all have a common denominator: their hostility towards Pedro Sánchez, the coalition government with United We Can and their “separatist” allies.

Recently, the party’s spokesman, Jorge Buxadé, affirmed that it is Abascal himself who “has personally assumed all the conversations” for the search for that profile, as well as “the negotiations to add support in Congress.” However, he also does not rule out that in case of force majeure he may end up being the one to lead that second motion again.

A colorful list

For now, the list of names of “relevant people” who have been appearing to play this role and whom the leader of Vox claims to have “consulted” is very diverse. It includes, among others, Rosa Díez, Joaquín Leguina, Alejo Vidal Quadras, Carlos García Adanero, Marcos de Quinto, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo or Nicolás Redondo Terrreros. A list that grows longer as the days go by without so far none of those tested have responded affirmatively to Abascal’s challenge. The Vox leader himself acknowledged on December 23 that there is no news in this regard.

And although in Vox they say they are not in a hurry, the proximity of the municipal and regional elections in May is encouraging them to take this step given the refusal of the PP to suffer this wear and tear as the main opposition party. “They do not give the numbers,” insist those of Feijóo, who argue that this initiative would only serve to “reinforce” the Government and Sánchez himself further. In Genoa 13 they maintain that the current president would emerge “triumphant” from the incident since he would manage not only to unite the majority that supported him in the inauguration, but also to add some more support. In other words, compared to the 167 votes that made him president, the PSOE leader would obtain a number close to 190, well above the absolute majority. Feijóo himself has transferred these arguments to Abascal while several PP leaders recommend “prudence” or directly ask him to cancel his plans.

However, in Vox they believe that a debate of these characteristics, even if they lose it, would open the pre-campaign and would be made profitable by Abascal against Núñez Feijóo, whom they boast of setting the agenda and whom they present as a “cowardly” leader. Another of the factors that has weighed on Vox’s decision is that this time they will not be left alone, but they are going to add other votes in favour. In the motion of no confidence that Vox presented in October 2020, Abascal only obtained the support of his parliamentary group. The PP voted against and Abascal came out very touched by that debate that cost him the break in relations with the then president of the PP, Pablo Casado, with whom he had a tense confrontation that bordered on the personal.

In principle, Vox would have the support of the nine Ciudadanos deputies, where there is also a division. While Arrimadas is in favor, Bal has announced that if the candidate is Abascal, he would not support the motion. However, he has advanced that he would if it were a former socialist, like Joaquín Leguina, whom he considers a “solvent” and “prepared” person. In the party at the moment they have not revealed what the official position would be, waiting for the name of the candidate to be known.

Some members of the Mixed Group would also vote in favour. Among them, the representative of the Forum or the defectors from other parties, such as the two former UPN parliamentarians from Navarre and, predictably also, the former deputy of Ciudadanos for Seville, Pablo Cambronero. In the ranks of Vox, in addition, they let it fall that they are convinced that there are deputies of the PSOE that if the vote were “secret” they would break group discipline and would support it “without any doubt”.

Feijóo rules out voting against as Casado did

The main unknown that remains to be cleared up, together with the date for its registration in Congress and the name of the candidate who will lead it, is what position the PP will finally adopt.

On December 23, in an interview in isRadio, Núñez Feijóo pointed out that will not vote against Vox’s motion of no confidence, even if Abascal is the candidate. “I already anticipate that”not’We are not going to vote. We are not going to oppose it”, he replied to Federico Jiménez Losantos, without specifying if they would abstain or vote in favor. His statements created discomfort in his ranks and puzzled some leaders of his own party who are in favor of distancing themselves from the extreme right, with which they compete for their electorate once they have managed to practically engulf Ciudadanos.

This discomfort is due to the fact that the decision on what his deputies will do when the presentation of the motion materializes has not yet been submitted to the Management Committee, the body closest to Feijóo and where his supposed circle of trust is, according to what they assure elDiario .is some of its members. “We have not dispatched it in the Management Committee,” lamented a national leader. In the PP, very divided on this issue, they also prefer to wait to know all the details, especially who will be the person who will defend the motion as an alternative to Sánchez.

One of the names that bothers them the most and that has come to the fore these days has been that of the former spokesperson for the PP, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. The deputy deposed by Casado is one of the ‘favorites’ of both Vox and Arrimadas, who spoke with her by telephone a few days ago to find out her disposition. Álvarez de Toledo has not publicly pronounced on this possibility but has encouraged Feijóo to be the one to present the motion.

Abascal has also revealed in recent weeks his contacts with other “relevant” people. He has cited, among others, former Ciudadanos deputy Marcos de Quinto, former star signing of Albert Rivera who is in tune with the former party spokesman, Juan Carlos Girauta. The two have adhered to a manifesto, promoted by a group of journalists that circulates on social networks against Pedro Sánchez and his government under the name ‘Defend Democracy’.

The signatories of that text ask the opposition parties to use “all the constitutional mechanisms at their disposal to cut, or at least make it as difficult as possible, the -in their opinion- the authoritarian and undemocratic drift of the current Government.” It includes renegades from their former parties, such as the former socialist Jesús Cuadrado, Toni Cantó himself, Rosa Díez, Malena Contestí, Xavier Pericay, Carlos Martínez Gorriarán or Maite Pagazaurtundúa.

They have not lacked spontaneous to give ideas either. Among them, the former position with the PP and former representative of Ciudadanos and UPyD in Congress, Toni Cantó, who despite having contributed to his resignation, now believes that Rosa Díaz would be an excellent candidate to preside over the Government and overthrow Sánchez. , in whose party Díez was a member for many years and held important positions. Along with her, Cantó also proposed Joaquín Leguina, the former president of the Community of Madrid, recently expelled from the PSOE for publicly showing her support for Isabel Díaz Ayuso on various occasions.

Scores to the old guard of the PSOE

The Vox spokesman in Congress, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, revealed in an interview on RNE that, in addition to Díaz or Leguina, they have also contacted some “old guard” socialists, who would have confessed their willingness to “lead as candidates” the motion of no confidence. “We are finding a lot of people, also from the left. There are former members of the PSOE who agree with the concept, who are studying whether or not to present themselves, but the high personal cost prevents some from taking that step, ”he said.

Although Espinosa did not give names, it is known that he was referring to the former mayor of A Coruña, Francisco Vázquez, another renowned anti-sanchista, like the former Minister of the Interior José Luis Corcuera, or the former Basque leader, Nicolás Redondo Terreros, names that have also come up on this issue. But to date everyone who has been approached has declined the offer.

Also appearing in the salad of names is that of the Navarrese deputy Carlos García Adanero, who was expelled from UPN and is now in Plataforma Navarra, and with whom Abascal and Arrimadas recently spoke, taking advantage of a demonstration in Pamplona in favor of the Civil Guard, to see if he’s willing to be the face of the motion. Both Adanero and his seat mate Sergio Sayas voted against the motion that Vox presented in October 2020.

Although the determination to present the initiative is already taken by Vox, what the extreme right lacks is to put a face to that candidate who promises to call “immediate elections.” The possibility that this “responsibility” falls again on Abascal is not ruled out and he seems to win integers, although the numbers to emerge triumphant, as the PP insists, do not give him.