Government Coalition Vetoes PP's Motion.
PSOE and Sumar again block PP's push for elections or confidence vote.
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The Mesa del Congreso, controlled by PSOE and Sumar, blocked a PP motion for the second time this week on Friday, June 19, rejecting a call for President Pedro Sánchez to either dissolve parliament and hold elections or face a vote of confidence, according to RTVE. The veto came despite the PP using exact wording from motions the same Mesa had accepted in 2023 and 2024.
PP spokesperson Ester Muñoz called the move a "cacicada" — an arbitrary abuse of power — and announced the party would appeal to the Constitutional Court, Europa Press reported. The opposition argues that if a motion is non-binding, there is no legal reason to block it from reaching a floor vote.
Same Words, Different Outcome: The Precedent Problem
The PP deliberately copied the exact phrasing from two earlier motions the Mesa had allowed to pass. One was a Vox motion from October 2024 calling for the government's resignation and new elections. The other was a Junts motion from February 2023 requesting a political confidence vote, according to El Debate.
The Mesa accepted the part of the PP's text regarding a confidence vote as a non-binding political suggestion. But it maintained the veto on any language asking Sánchez to dissolve the Cortes and call elections, 20Minutos reported. The PP says this inconsistency proves the veto is political, not procedural.
Government Defends Veto Using Constitutional Articles 112 and 115
Congress President Francina Armengol defended the block by citing Articles 112 and 115 of the Spanish Constitution. Those articles give the President — and only the President — the power to call elections or seek a confidence vote. She argued that a parliamentary motion cannot "mandate" a power reserved to the executive, according to El País.
Government allies framed the PP's repeated motions as "parliamentary noise" designed to embarrass Sánchez rather than govern. Cabinet members described the campaign as a "symbolic performance" hiding the fact that the PP lacks the 176 votes needed to win a formal motion of censure, El Independiente reported.
PP Takes Fight to Senate and Constitutional Court
After the first veto on June 16, the PP moved its initiative to the Senate, where it holds over 140 seats and an absolute majority. The upper house passed the motion calling for elections — a symbolic win, since Senate resolutions cannot force the government to act, according to El Nacional.cat.
The PP confirmed it will now file a formal appeal with the Constitutional Court. A ruling could set a landmark precedent on whether the Mesa can block non-binding political motions based on their content — not just their procedural form — La Vanguardia reported.
Junts Joins Attack as Governing Majority Stays Fragile
Junts deputy Josep Maria Cruset backed the PP's position, saying "those who are afraid prohibit" and demanding the dissolution of parliament due to what he called a "siege of corruption," according to EFE. Junts had previously registered its own similar motion that the Mesa allowed in 2023.
The governing coalition holds a fragile majority of around 179 to 180 votes. The PP's strategy is to force a public floor vote to expose how many of those votes — especially from Junts and the PNV — might no longer hold, El País reported. Without a 2026 budget and with legislation stalled, analysts warn the political standoff could push the PP toward a formal motion of censure later this year.
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