2023 vote of no confidence in the government of Pedro Sánchez explained

Date:21–22 March 2023
Place:Congress of Deputies, Spain
Cause:The government's proposed reforms to the criminal code on embezzlement and sedition
Outcome:Motion rejected

A motion of no confidence in the Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez was tabled by the far-right party Vox on 27 February 2023,[1] and was debated and voted in the Congress of Deputies between 21 and 22 March 2023. It was the sixth motion of no confidence in Spain since the country's transition to democracy.[2]

Vox announced the motion of no confidence on 9 December 2022, proposing it to be tabled under an independent candidate with government experience, voicing that Sánchez's proposed reforms of the Criminal Code to modify the embezzlement and sedition crimes were akin to a "self-coup" similar to "that of Pedro Castillo in Peru" two days earlier.[3] [4] The opposition People's Party (PP) under Alberto Núñez Feijóo stated that it would not vote against the motion, unlike the 2020 vote, but it did not clarify whether it would abstain or vote in favour of it depending on the proposed candidate.[5]

After a period in which Vox was unable to get the consent of any of the candidates it reached out for, on 1 February 2023 the party proposed economist and former politician Ramón Tamames, aged 89, to lead the motion.[6] Tamames accepted on 21 February, with the motion's registration being announced for the next Monday.[7] His speech[8] highlights the maneuvers against the separation of powers towards an "absorbing autocracy" with abuse of the decree-law, elimination of the crime of sedition or reduction of sentences for embezzlement, support in pro-independence parties, little conciliatory line of government, partisan manipulation of history, attacks on legal certainty and businessmen of prestige, among many other reasons.

Legal provisions

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 required for motions of no confidence to be proposed by at least one-tenth of the Congress of Deputies—35 out of 350. Following the German model, votes of no confidence in Spain were constructive, so the motion was required to include an alternative candidate for prime minister.[9] For a motion of no confidence to be successful, it had to be passed by an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies. A minimum period of five days from the motion's registration (dubbed as "cooling period") was required to pass before it could come up for a vote, but no maximum was established. Other parties were entitled to submit alternative motions within the first two days from the registration.[10] [11] [12]

Concurrently, the Prime Minister was barred from dissolving the Cortes Generales and calling a general election while a motion of no confidence was pending. If the motion was successful, the incumbent prime minister and their government were required to submit their resignation to the Monarch, while the candidate proposed in the motion was automatically considered to have the confidence of the Congress of Deputies and immediately appointed as prime minister. If unsuccessful, the signatories of the motion were barred from submitting another during the same session.[10]

The procedure for motions of no confidence was regulated within Articles 175 to 179 of the Standing Orders of the Congress of Deputies, which provided for the debate on the motion starting with its defence by one of the signatory members without any time limitations, to be followed by an also time-unlimited speech by the nominated candidate to explain their political programme. Subsequently, spokespeople from the different parliamentary groups in Congress were allowed to speak for thirty minutes, with an opportunity to reply or rectify themselves for ten minutes. Members of the government were allowed to take the floor and speak at any time of their request during the debate.[13]

Opinion polls

Opinion polling conducted in the days during and after the events of the vote of no confidence showed a large opposition to the motion.

Opinion on the motion of no confidence
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeSupportRejectNeither
DYM/Henneo[14] 23–24 Mar 20231,00818.963.317.8
Data10/OKDiario[15] 22 Mar 20231,81629.755.514.8
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[16] 22 Mar 20231,81628.163.48.5
DYM/Henneo[17] 15–19 Feb 20231,00326.253.220.6

Events

Party positions

After Vox announced that it would table a second motion of no confidence after the one they previously presented in 2020, the various parties announced their stances to the motion. Aside of the governing parties—the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos—and barring any major position change, it is expected to meet with the opposition of Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), EH Bildu, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), Más País, Commitment Coalition (Compromís), New Canaries (NCa), the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and Teruel Existe (TE).[18] In December 2022, the leader of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC), Miguel Ángel Revilla, announced that his party would not support a motion of no confidence on Sánchez's government.[19] Citizens (CS) also announced its "No" vote to the motion, branding it as "useless as an option to guarantee progress, freedom and equality" of the Spaniards"[20]

The leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, announced that the party would not vote against it—as it did in 2020—and would abstain instead.[21]

Vote

Motion of no confidence
Ramón Tamames (Independent)
Ballot →TBD 2023
Required majority →176 out of 350
Sources

Notes and References

  1. News: Abad Liñán . José Manuel . González . Miguel . 22 February 2023 . Vox registrará el lunes su segunda moción de censura contra Pedro Sánchez con Ramón Tamames como candidato . es . . Madrid . 23 February 2023 . 23 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230223024708/https://elpais.com/espana/2023-02-22/vox-registrara-su-mocion-de-censura-el-lunes-con-tamames-como-candidato.html . live .
  2. News: 13 March 2023 . La moción de censura de Vox se debatirá en el Congreso los días 21 y 22 de marzo . es . elDiario.es . 13 March 2023 . 13 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313093848/https://www.eldiario.es/politica/mocion-censura-vox-debatira-congreso-dias-21-22-marzo_1_10027739.html . live .
  3. News: González . Miguel . Casqueiro . Javier . 9 December 2022 . Abascal anuncia otra moción de censura contra Sánchez pero sin fecha ni candidato . es . El País . Madrid . 23 February 2022 . 9 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221209133713/https://elpais.com/espana/2022-12-09/abascal-anuncia-otra-mocion-de-censura-con-un-candidato-neutral-y-acusa-de-golpista-a-sanchez.html . live .
  4. News: 13 December 2022 . Vox anuncia que presentará en solitario la moción de censura si no se suman otros partidos . es . Europa Press . Madrid . 23 February 2022 . 13 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221213232449/https://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-vox-anuncia-presentara-solitario-mocion-censura-si-no-suma-apoyos-20221213131409.html . live .
  5. News: García de Blas . Elsa . 13 December 2022 . Feijóo no se opondrá a la moción de censura de Vox, incluso con Abascal de candidato . es . El País . Madrid . 23 February 2022 . 14 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221214055720/https://elpais.com/espana/2022-12-13/feijoo-no-se-opondra-a-la-mocion-de-censura-de-vox-incluso-con-abascal-de-candidato.html . live .
  6. News: Ramos . Ana Belén . 1 February 2023 . Vox propone a Ramón Tamames liderar su moción de censura contra Sánchez . es . El Confidencial . 23 February 2022 . 1 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230201133052/https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2023-02-01/vox-propone-a-ramon-tamames-liderar-su-mocion-de-censura-contra-sanchez_3567941/ . live .
  7. News: 21 February 2023 . Tamames acepta ser el candidato de Vox para la moción de censura contra el Gobierno de Sánchez . es . Europa Press . Madrid . 23 February 2022 . 21 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230221213759/https://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-vox-tamames-alcanzan-acuerdo-mocion-censura-contra-gobierno-pedro-sanchez-20230221221934.html . live .
  8. News: Tamames Gomez . Ramon . 21 March 2023 . Discurso completo de Ramón Tamames . es . ABC . Madrid . 22 March 2023 . 22 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230322153646/https://www.abc.es/espana/discurso-integro-ramon-tamames-espana-gobierno-sanchez-20230321130854-nt.html . live .
  9. Torres Muro . Ignacio . 9 October 2017 . La moción de censura constructiva. Una respuesta alemana, y española, a la inestabilidad gubernamental . es . Foro: Revista de ciencias jurídicas y sociales, Nueva época . 20 . 1 . 279–292 . 1698-5583 . 10.5209/FORO.57537 . 30 July 2020 . free . 11 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200911141222/https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/FORO/article/view/57537 . live .
  10. News: Abad Liñán . José Manuel . 22 February 2023 . Claves de la moción de censura, paso a paso . es . El País . Madrid . 23 February 2022 . 23 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230223024817/https://elpais.com/espana/2023-02-22/claves-de-la-mocion-de-censura-paso-a-paso.html . live .
  11. News: Cánovas Morillo . Carlos . 14 March 2023 . Cómo se desarrollará la moción de censura de Vox, con Ramón Tamames como candidato a la presidencia del Gobierno . es . Newtral . 15 March 2022 . 14 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314152558/https://www.newtral.es/mocion-de-censura-vox-pedro-sanchez/20230314/ . live .
  12. Web site: Santaolalla López . Fernando . Galindo Elola-Olaso . Fernando . Miranda . Luis Manuel . 2018 . Constitución española, Sinopsis artículo 113 . . es . 31 July 2020 . 22 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200722145451/https://app.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/sinopsis/sinopsis.jsp?art=113&tipo=2 . live .
  13. Web site: Standing Orders of the Congress of Deputies . Congress of Deputies . 11 June 2022 . 15 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220715210326/https://www.congreso.es/webpublica/ficherosportal/standing_orders_02.pdf . live .
  14. Web site: El 64,6% de los españoles asegura que la moción de censura no afectará a su voto . es . La Información . 29 March 2023.
  15. Web site: 23 March 2023 . El 58% de los españoles piensa que la moción benefició a Sánchez y Díaz y menos del 13% cree que a Vox . es . OKDiario . 23 March 2023.
  16. Web site: 23 March 2023 . La moción despierta a la izquierda y debilita a la derecha: el 36% da ganador al PSOE y el 39% ve perdedor a Vox . es . El Mundo . 23 March 2023.
  17. Web site: 22 February 2023 . Encuesta DYM. El 56% de los españoles considera que Tamames no es el candidato adecuado para la moción de censura de Vox . es . VozPópuli . 23 February 2023 . 23 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230223062207/https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5103321/0/mas-de-la-mitad-de-los-espanoles-se-muestran-contrarios-a-la-mocion-de-censura-de-vox/ . live .
  18. News: López de Miguel . Alejandro . Gil . Iván . 23 February 2023 . Los grupos debaten no dar réplica a Tamames en la moción de censura . es . El Confidencial . 24 February 2023 . 24 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230224032441/https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2023-02-23/erc-sondea-a-los-grupos-para-silenciar-la-mocion-de-censura-de-vox_3581258/ . live .
  19. Web site: eldiariocantabria.es . 2022-12-13 . El PRC no apoyará una moción de censura contra Sánchez . 2023-02-25 . eldiariocantabria.es . es . 2023-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230225172532/https://eldiariocantabria.publico.es/articulo/politica/prc-apoyara-mocion-censura-sanchez/20221213172720127235.html . live .
  20. News: Hurtado . Julio . 24 February 2023 . La nueva dirección de Ciudadanos reitera su rechazo a la moción de censura de Vox . es . La Vanguardia . 24 February 2023 . 24 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230224133640/https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20230224/8781480/nueva-direccion-ciudadanos-impone-arrimadas-rechazo-mocion-censura.html . live .
  21. News: Hurtado . Julio . 23 February 2023 . Feijóo anuncia la abstención del PP en el "show" de la moción de censura defendida por Tamames . es . La Vanguardia . 24 February 2023 . 24 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230224102502/https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20230223/8778733/feijoo-anuncia-abstencion-pp-show-mocion-censura-defendida-tamames.html . live .

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