No Christmas Truce for the Politicians

Whether the forthcoming election year of May (local and some regional) and (probably) December for the main event is still a long time off or not, the Government is busy proposing and passing laws before the Opposition can wrest control and return us to a happier, simpler time.

Santiago Abascal, over at Vox, is impatient. He has called for another motion of confidence in the Government, and he has the support of the ten deputies of Ciudadanos. Abascal has even found the ideal candidate to become the next president, a non-aligned (if staunchly conservative) deputy in the Cortes called Carlos García Adanero.

Abascal (Vox) with Arrimadas (C's)

Alberto Núñez Feijóo from the PP says his party won’t join in the evidently doomed provocation, but in an interview this Sunday, he calls for an immediate general election.

One of the issues for Feijóo is the Government’s plan to finally stymie the long-running conservative embargo on a renovation of the CGPJ (and thus the Constitutional Court) by returning the system to promotion with a simple majority rather than the PP-preferred three-fifths superiority before judges can be voted in or removed from the General Council – in other words, the government of the judiciary: the third arm of democracy.  The PP can count on nine judges within the CGPJ who are against fixing the issue. The Government, for its part, threatens those judges with contempt.

Another issue that bothers the Right is the ‘Only Yes Means Yes’ law (providing sexual rights and protection for women). Since the law determines prison time for non-consensual sex, some imprisoned rapists have retroactively found their sentences reduced.

Núñez Feijóo considers the current government to be ‘a Frankenstein partnership’ (the majority necessary for passage of laws means that the PSOE/UP coalition must rely on small regional parties, who, inevitably, have a price). The alternative to this, evidently, would be a PP/Vox coalition.

The ‘manipulation’ of the right-wing media – known in leftist circles as ‘la caverna’ (something like ‘the bunker’) – is used by The Establishment not only to reinforce the opinion of the converted, but also to confuse the unsure. A recent left-wing editorial says ‘The Government needs to govern, and not be pressured by one who seeks to block the renewal of the Judicial Power “to protect it” from the Government of Sánchez’.