Fernando González Urbaneja. Politicians want power. Democracy is based on mathematics, i.e., getting the right number of votes to gain power.
Two concepts we’ll see in municipal councils and automated governments replacing them in the coming weeks. After the 23 July votes are counted to form Parliament and the executive, they will be used.
Pedro Sánchez stated before the November 2019 elections that he would not rule with Podemos or Bildu. Math and power drove his ambitions. You rectify to enter government. In Castilla y León, arithmetic pushed the PP and Vox to form a regional government with Abascal’s party. All done.
After the May and July elections, improbable pairings have lost audience.
The PP criticizes Sánchez for partnering with Bildu. Socialists call the Popular Party the Siamese twins of VOX (all extreme right). All this throughout the municipal and regional pacts and state election campaign.
Declarations are fleeting. Arithmetic—adding up to get power—is what matters. Everyone will make deals with everyone to obtain or take power.
The historical partnership of PNV/socialists in the Basque Country, where pact-making is well-established, was strengthened by the 28 May results. The PP also keeps Bildu supporters out of institutions when needed. Math rules.
In Navarre, adding up takes longer. In Catalonia, voters are abandoning experiences for the real and familiar, and the “indepes” are changing.
Feijóo acknowledges pragmatism when he gives regional and local leaders the task of expressing the arithmetic-based pacts that fit them.